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The INDEPENDENT, October 18, 2000
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Business Notes
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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