By Anne Scheck

City lots with cars parked for extended periods and residential streets that have become parking spots for large commercial vehicles are getting tighter scrutiny, thanks to the city’s Traffic Safety Commission. The all-volunteer commissioners have been fielding complaints about both these issues “for quite some time,” according to Independence Police Chief Robert Mason. 
 
In a work session aimed at giving this issue a closer look, Independence city councilors were informed that day-long parking is occurring in two city-owned lots – one at Prestige Cinema, the other behind the Elks Club – and trailer-trucks are being parked on residential streets near downtown. “Right now our (city) code doesn’t have much to say about this,” Chief Mason observed. 
 
City Councilor Shannon Corr urged that, aside from suggesting more restrictions to reduce these parking problems, possible alternatives should be proposed. Chief Mason agreed, predicting even public discussion could become an “emotional” topic. The matter has been sent back to commissioners, for closer examination and potential solutions.

A proposal to purchase three commercial sites downtown, including the old city hall and Independence Station, needs to include incentives that were provided to the previous owner so that a new investor can move forward, according to the executive on the proposed project, Patrick Carney. 
 
“We’re confident this can happen in a reasonable time frame, assuming the city credits are still available – as they once were in a prior agreement, from what we understand,” said Mr. Carney, of Salem-based GoMacGo LLC. The last purchase agreement for the former city hall was to include a rebate of $300,000 to the buyer, which was linked to meeting certain construction milestones.  
 
Mr. Carney made the statements in an address at the last Independence City Council meeting, where he identified the old city hall – currently housing a brewery – as a priority. Contract negotiations with the city are underway, he said.  If the deal is sealed, the new ownership will mark the third one thus far for both the old city hall and Independence Station.
 
Mr. Carney provided several examples of successful ventures involving his company, including an industrial property in McMinnville that has been re-purposed as mixed-use development. 
 
In a separate presentation, Aaron Young, who is building a commercial-residential complex called Osprey Point across from The Independence Hotel, said he hoped “that as a city, and as a community, we can give them (GoMacGo) the tools they need to move forward.” Mr. Young added that the condition of the soil at the building site for Osprey Point had proven a “challenge,” but he expects faster progress soon.

New standards for duplexes are part of the city’s revised development code, which will be presented in draft form Monday night to city planning commissioners at their monthly meeting. This coming year, two residential homes per single-family lot will be allowed – the result of an Oregon legislative mandate to enable more residences to be built on less land in cities across the state. The lawmakers approved this measure as a way to provide more affordable housing.

City Planning Commission 7 pm Monday, Dec 2, Civic Center. WINTER FEST, a holiday celebration with activities, is Saturday, Dec 7 in Riverview Park – and downtown.

By-laws for the Heritage Museum were adopted at the last city council meeting – and the rules would allow an admission price to be established. However, an actual pricing proposal would have to be taken to the city council before such a fee could be enacted. The museum is relocating to a corner on a block downtown across from the post office.  

By Anne Scheck

A second hemp-processing plant on Stryker in Independence has passed permitting hurdles and is expected to be in production soon, according to Processing Lab Manager Brett Werner of Pacific Hills Farms in Rickreall.
 
The hemp will be sold both as a distilled oil and a flower that can be smoked, he stated. Hemp, a species of cannabis from which medicinal CBD can be extracted, is legal now in the United States. The hemp plant is located east of Stinson Street and Stryker Road.
  
Independence’s provisions for hemp derivatives, which are considered part of an agricultural product by the state of Oregon, differ from zoning restrictions for marijuana, according to city staff.

Main Street’s pavement and water lines will undergo a renovation to be paid, in part, by a loan agreement instituted about a year ago for $217,000 – and the city’s transportation and water funds will pick up the rest, providing $313,000, and $150,000, respectively. The loan is from the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program; The total of these three sums is $680,000.

MINET’s board of directors reportedly passed a resolution that would allow the local telecommunication network to seek a line of credit from a lending institution, if one is needed. The Heritage Museum will receive $11,500 grant allocated to the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, which agreed to use it for the museum’s architectural plans – it is relocating to a downtown corner across from the post office.

A new strategy to identify speeding motorists along Highway 22 will go into effect soon, according to Polk County Sheriff Mark Garton. He declined to identify what approach will be taken, but it’s likely to involve unmarked patrol cars and special detection methods for spotting cell-phone users. The number of drivers using hand-held cell phones along the highway, to talk or text, “is way too frequent,” he said. It’s most common in the 20- to 45-year-old age group, he added. In a statement released a few weeks ago, Independence Police Chief Robert Mason expressed his own concern about continuing cell-phone use behind the wheel.

The Independence City Council will have a work session (6 pm) followed by a meeting this Tuesday, Nov. 26, at the Civic Center. (A hearing has been rescheduled on an appeal filed by a homeowner in Sunset Meadows challenging the city’s adherence to its own Southwest Independence Concept Plan. That hearing is now slated for December.)

Joshua Brandt told the Independence City Council at its meeting in early November that the rubbish-and-recycle company plans to stick to its current rates for service for as long as possible – despite growing expenses. Mr. Brandt told the council he was disappointed in the shrinking availability of places to send items that Brandt’s once accepted for recycling. A year ago, Governing Magazine, which reports on municipalities, featured an article documenting that cities – which once could count on processors to pay them for this material – now are “being presented with hefty bills instead.”  

New ideas for regulating signs would mean fewer of them on downtown sidewalks and none at all on the slope of window awnings. Those are just two of the suggestions for updating the city's “very confusing sign code,” explained City Planner Fred Evander. At this past week's planning commission meeting, he and the commissioners agreed that a good first step might be to identify a few storefronts for a mock try-out of revised guidelines. Currently, there are no plans to require existing signage to be changed or taken down, but discussion of the issue will continue, he said. 

Annexation of 70 acres in a nearly 260-acre expansion of the city’s urban-growth boundary was approved by the Independence City Council at the last meeting – but the plan raised several questions, including an inquiry from the state’s Fair Housing Council.  
 
Prompted by City Councilor Shannon Corr to address the fair-housing inquiry, City Planner Fred Evander said he thought the correspondence seemed “confused” on the issue – more than 15% of the 100-home project already has been designated as multi-family housing. “We identified it as MX (mixed use) a long time ago,” he explained. Under a new law, cities with 10,000 or more residents must allow construction of what’s been called “the missing middle housing” segment – homes between lower-rent high-volume apartment buildings and more costly single-family homes. 
 
Councilor Corr also noted that Fire Chief Ben Stange and School Superintendent Jennifer Kubista were in the audience – and asked if they had been informed about the annexation. The proposed change has been in the works for years, Mr. Evander pointed out. “I know that I particularly brought it up to (former superintendent) Buzz on several occasions,” added Mayor John McArdle, referring to Buzz Brazeau, who retired in 2017 from Central School District and who this year became superintendent for Philomath schools. 
 
Some residents of Monmouth’s Madrona Street also attended the meeting, and Mr. Evander said traffic concerns cited by one will be subject to a second look – once subdivision plans begin being submitted. 
 
Wetland maps have been completed and, as required by law, were certified by the US Army Corps of Engineers, according to Chuck Goode, who owns the property. The plans include provisions for setting aside the wetlands and also for mitigating them, though it isn’t clear which option will be taken or whether the final proposal will be a combination of both. Joe Matteo, who owns a hazelnut farm next to Mr. Goode’s land, said he is worried about storm-water run-off, which could impact his crop. Mayor McArdle directed city staff to address that concern.

Independence expects to pay slightly more than $271,000 toward the MINET debt by year’s end, according to the city’s latest financial report. That’s 45% of the nearly $600,000 anticipated need, with the remaining 55% paid by Monmouth. In other news about the municipal company, MINET General Manager Don Patten received the Edwin B. Parker Enduring Achievement Award, which was bestowed at the Oregon Connections Telecommunications Conference in Ashland, Ore. The award is given to an individual who provides “a lasting legacy,” demonstrating an influence on the future of telecommunications. In accepting the honor, Mr. Patten noted that, although his name was on it, “it is each of you that do the hard work.”  

An overflowing sink on the second floor of the Polk County courthouse building rained down on the offices of the County Board of Commissioners last week, causing a minor flood. Hardest hit apparently was Chair Craig Pope, whose soggy floor required sopping up – everywhere, that is, but the one spot that might have been beneficial. “It missed my lemon tree,” Mr. Pope said.