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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 2000)
Page 4 The INDEPENDENT, October 18, 2000 ...... — - ---------------- ------ " " 7 ..... i. — *■ Business Notes / UGB development procedures under scrutiny by City and County Columbia County and the City of St. Helens are studying ways to improve the develop ment approval process for land that is within the urban growth boundary, but outside of city limits. With a $67,000 grant from the Oregon Transporta tion and Growth Management program, the City and County have hired a consultant team to help develop new rules. It is hoped that the rules will be come a model for other com munities in Columbia County and elsewhere. At issue is how land is con verted from rural to urban uses. By law, the land within an ur ban growth boundary is set aside for future urban develop ment, but what happens be tween the time the land is in cluded in the boundary and when full urban development occurs? Typically, there are re strictions on interim develop ment. As in most areas of the state, Columbia County re quires that property subdivided in the unincorporated area of the urban growth boundary, must meet city development standards. “That’s fine for large developments,” said County Planning Director Todd Dug- dale, “but it is not very appeal-r ing to someone who only wants to sell off a few building lots.” r The result has been wide spread use of partition rules. Under those rules, a land own er can split one tax lot into two tax lots, with up to three parti tions allowed each year. This has led to a practice called se rial partitioning, in which one large tax lot is converted into many small tax lots over the course of two or three years. “By itself, that’s not a bad thing, but serial partitioning complicates the job of building and paying for city streets and utilities,” said Skip Baker, St. Helens Planner. When a city has to weave through a maze of small tax lots, infrastructure costs go up and the number of people served goes down, Baker explained. To address the problem, the City and County are forming a task force to study the issue and advise elected officials. The consultants, Cogan Owens Cogan LLC and Pacific Rim w Resources are conducting in terviews and will meet with the advisory group several times over the next six months. One task force member is the Mc Nulty Water Association whose service boundary crosses into the urban growth boundary. It is hoped that the task force can recommend a new process that lets individual property owners partition their land while preserving options for fu ture urban development. For more information about the task force, call Dugdale at 503- 397-1501 or Baker at 503-397- 6272. Rep. Wu field office schedule set Congressman David Wu will hold community office hours again this fall, with field repre sentative Ann Richardson available to provide consti tuents an opportunity to share concerns, express opinions or discuss problems with federal agencies. Appointments are not re quired, but may be made by calling the Portland office at 503-326-2901 or 1-800-422- 4003: Anyone requiring special accommodations should con tact the Portland office at least 48 hours in advance. Community office hours will be held at the following places, dates and times: • Vernonia City Hall, 1001 Bridge Street, Oct. 25 and Nov. 15, 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. both days. • Clatskanie PUD, 423 N. Nehalem, Meeting Room, Oct. 24 and Nov. 14, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. both days. • Rainier City Hall, 106 West “B” Street, Council Chambers, Oct. 24 and Nov. 14, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. both days. • St. Helens, Columbia Tech nology Center, 375 S. 18th, Armstrong Room, Oct. 24 and Nov. 14, 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. both days. • Scappoose, Public Service Building, Council Chambers, 33568 E. Columbia Ave., Oct. 24 and Nov. 14, 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. both days. LOW C 0$T CAR LOANS Vernonia Federal Credit Union 503-429-8031 A western theme marked Customer Appreciation Day at the Vernonia branch of U.S. Bank on Sept. 22, with the appropriately attired staff of, l-r, Carol Barker, Teresa Bernard!, Victo ria Kirkley and Kelly Murray. Re-elect Tony H yde Columbia County Commissioner ★ Position 3 Four years ago, when I first asked for your vote, I pledged to work for all of the people of Columbia County.lt has been satisfying to help bring good, family wage jobs to Columbia County with US Gypsum, a result we are work ing to duplicate with an ethanol facility for Cascade Grain at Port Westward. It has been satisfying to restructure our Economic Development Committee and to participate in stabilizing the county's federal forest receipts...but There is more to be done and I will continue working for: Good Local Jobs ✓ Affordable Local Housing ✓ Increased Local Business Ownership ✓ Improved Local Telecommunications ✓ Clean Economic Development I will continue working for ah of the people of Colum bia County in order to retain our lifestyle and keep our com munities healthy. Alan Coffey of Vernonia was the happy winner of a chest freezer given as a prize by Vernonia Sentry Market as part of a special frozen food promotion. With Coffey is Sentry manager Randy Parrow, at right. Re-elect Tony H yde Colum bia Co u n ty Co m m issio n er Authorized by Committee to Re-elect Tony Hyde, 382 “A" Street, Vernonia, OR 97064
