The INDEPENDENT, April 18, 2012
Page 11
Banks council approves change to five digit addresses for all
by Jodi Boylan
Banks City Council held a
Public Hearing, during the April
10th council meeting, on the
proposed ordinance for a uni-
form house numbering system.
City Planner K.J. Won spoke
on behalf of the city. Several
citizens asked questions and
made comments, and Wash-
ington County Sheriff Pat Gar-
rett submitted a letter in sup-
port of the proposed uniform
house numbering system.
Won explained that proper-
ties in the City of Banks have
addresses that are based on
two different numbering sys-
tems – a three digit historical
system and a five digit county
addressing system. Properties
located in the northerly half of
town have addresses based on
the historical numbering sys-
tem, except for lots on Banks
Road that have already been
converted to the county sys-
tem. Properties located in the
Arbor Village development
were assigned addresses un-
der the county system, and
some addresses in the older
part of town do not even follow
a consistent pattern of odd/
even numbering.
To eliminate confusion re-
garding local street addresses,
especially for emergency re-
sponse purposes, city staff pre-
pared a uniform addressing
system that will conform with
the county addressing system
and should be in place to serve
future development in the ex-
panded Urban Growth Bound-
ary (UGB) area, following an-
nexation into Banks.
At the conclusion of the
hearing, Mayor John Kinsky
held a first reading of the draft
ordinance by title only.
Washington County Sheriff
Pat Garrett and Sergeant Dave
Thompson attended the meet-
ing while contract Deputy Todd
Hanlon briefed council on the
incidents in the city during the
month of March. Hanlon report-
ed that there were 20 public re-
quests, no arrests, one Police
Officer Hold (POH), and nine
reports. There were 37 traffic
stops, and 10 citations were is-
sued. Hanlon reported that it
was a quiet month and a quiet
Spring Break. Council and staff
complimented Hanlon’s “good
police work” to the Sheriff.
Tammy Stempel of Adapt
Engineering briefed council on
a pilot project for the Communi-
ty Energy Savings Outreach
Program. The program’s goal is
to educate communities on
economic savings, environ-
mental conservation, and so-
cial energy development. All
businesses, including home
businesses, qualify to partici-
pate in this energy saving edu-
cational project. Banks and
North Plains were selected for
the pilot program because they
share the same general loca-
tion and are communities of ap-
proximately the same size.
Any business in Banks or North
Plains that would like to partici-
pate in this community energy
saving program should contact
their city manager.
Planning Commission Liai-
son Janet Towne reported that
there was no Planning Com-
mission meeting in March. A
work session was held, in-
stead, to discuss the street re-
naming project, and to review
an application from a prospec-
tive planning commissioner.
City Manager Jim Hough re-
ported that, at the request of
the mayor, city staff is coordi-
nating efforts with Banks Fire
District and the City of Banks
police services to educate the
public about hazards associat-
ed with the use of illegal fire-
works inside the city limits.
Some fireworks, such as
sparklers, flower pots, and Ro-
man candles, etc., are legal,
however most fireworks are
not. State law bans the use of
explosive fireworks on the ba-
sis that they are generally un-
safe and are prone to start fires
in built-up neighborhoods.
The city and the fire district
will coordinate educational out-
reach efforts through the use of
flyers in the water bills and the
two reader boards in town. Cit-
One tool
Many uses
izens also need to know that il-
legal materials will be confis-
cated, and that enforcement
patrols will be coordinated on
the 4th of July in an attempt to
dissuade citizens who may be
tempted to use illegal fire-
works. In order to have a safe
4th of July, citizens should en-
joy the free fireworks display
put on by the Sunset Speed-
way.
The City Manager’s Report
also included the following:
• The Oregon Department of
Transportation (ODOT) has in-
stalled new park directional sig-
nage on Main Street, at the
city’s request.
• The city conducted an
open house on April 5th to
present the proposed Banks
Readdressing Plan Ordinance
to city residents.
• The city is planning to con-
duct a review of all nine budget
reserve funds during the No-
vember 13th Council meeting.
Reserve funds must be re-
viewed and renewed at least
every 10 years. By conducting
a review of all of them at the
same time, the city can note
that in the following budget,
and can schedule the review of
all reserve funds at a later date.
• Washington County Coor-
dinating Committee (WCCC)
approved the city’s request to
use Traffic Impact Fees (TIF) to
redesign the Main Street/Oak
Way intersection. City staff is in
contact with ODOT to continue
the discussion of the intersec-
tion, but is not optimistic that
ODOT will be receptive to con-
tinuing the project.
• The city is continuing to up-
grade and expand its traffic and
street signage throughout the
city. The new High Intensity
Prismatic traffic signage is
quite noticeable, especially at
night. This upgrade is required
for all municipalities by 2015.
Banks will be in compliance
three years early.
• The city is working to get all
of its transportation projects
onto the Major Streets Trans-
portation Improvement Pro-
gram - Phase 3d (MSTIP 3d)
project list. Hough does not an-
ticipate any of the projects be-
ing funded, but the city’s proj-
ect requests will be document-
ed with the Washington County
Transportation Planning sec-
tion for future reference and
potential funding. There are no
Banks projects on the “short
list” of projects being reviewed
for approval at WCCC’s May
meeting. The city also needs to
get the projects onto the North-
west Area Commission on
Transportation (NWACT) proj-
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