The Hermiston City Council postponed a scheduled hearing centering on a proposed street vacation Monday night and announced it will hold the hearing at its Dec. 22 meeting instead.
The hearing was to consider a city-initiated vacation of a portion of W. Ridgeway Avenue to help clear the way for a proposed development on the former Tum-A-Lum property near Auto Kool. Darrel and Rhonda Sallee, owners of Auto Kool and five other contiguous lots, oppose the street vacation, claiming it will substantially damage the market value of their properties. Attorney George Anderson, representing the Sallees, told the council he and others were prepared to provide testimony and wanted to know why the hearing was being postponed.
(HERMISTON BULLDOGS: A SEASON TO REMEMBER)
“I understand your frustration,” said Hermiston Mayor Dave Drotzmann. “We have a new staff report coming out and you’ll be apprised of that when it becomes available.”
A crowd of people had packed the council chambers in anticipation of the hearing. Many of them left after the postponement was announced.
The new report will likely replace the existing 39-page staff report that had been prepared for Monday night’s hearing. In that report, Hermiston City Planner Clint Spencer described the street right-of-way as being 60 feet wide and extending westward from N. First Street approximately 200 feet before narrowing to 30 feet in width and continuing westward 120 more feet to the Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way.
In a letter to the mayor and council, Anderson said the proposed street vacation will harm the market value of the Sallees’ properties by causing a “bottleneck for access in and out of the Sallees’ and Mitco properties from Highway 395.” The old Tum-A-Lum site is owned by Mitco Investments.
Anderson also stated that the proposed street vacation will not allow for the disposal of runoff water.
In his prepared report, Spencer wrote that, in order to preserve adequate access to the Sallees’ six lots, the city is proposing to create a public access easement 30 feet wide over the eastern 210 feet of the existing right-of-way. Spencer said the six lots will abut the public easement and vehicles accessing each property will continue to have “the unimpeded ability to travel to and from N. First Street.”
The report also states that the city is also proposing abandoning the existing 2-inch municipal water line used only by Auto Kool, and install new water meters and new service lines at no cost to Auto Kool.
The announcement of the hearing postponement came after the council met for about 15 minutes in executive session to discuss any potential legal action that might arise over the street vacation. It is expected that the council will have a revised staff report ready for its Dec. 22 meeting.
More Stories from Northeast Oregon Now:
Officials Break Ground at EOTEC Site
