Ontario council defers on annexation blueprint
Elected board also OKs system development charges plan

By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:55 AM PDT

Ontario — The Ontario City Council Monday decided not to vote on a potential annexation plan for a slice of property situated on Thomas Circle near Northwest Seventh Avenue, west of 19th Street.

The property was originally set to be annexed into the city on behalf of Kathryn Alvarado, who wished to buy the land to build a duplex, but Ontario Planning and Zoning Administrator Evan MacKenzie said residents in the area were displeased with the idea.

Pat Bennett, who lives in the 1900 block of Northwest Seventh Avenue said she would prefer to see houses in the area rather than duplexes.

Another lingering issue revolved around the fact the property was slated to be annexed in the past, but never was.  MacKenzie said he was still attempting to learn more about the history of the property Tuesday.

“I don’t have any answers yet,” he said. “So it’s really tough to comment. I’m not entirely sure what should be done yet.”

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The issue was pulled from the council agenda and a new date for the annexation plan to be discussed has not been set.

“We are going to notify the interested parties when that will be back on the agenda,” Ontario City Manager Henry Lawrence said.

MacKenzie said he has collected the names of residents who attended the planning commission meeting last Monday to express their displeasure about the proposed annexation. He said those who spoke about the issue will be notified that the decision is on hold and will be informed when the discussion will come before the council again. MacKenzie talked about what he has learned thus far.

“The application went to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals,” he said. “We don’t have all of the files from that appeal yet. We’re looking for that file to find out whether or not it should have been annexed. Nobody that is here now was here then.”

The annexation represents a conundrum for the city, because there could be other factors at play in the process that could influence other properties in the area.

“We don’t know what the rest of the agreement was,” MacKenzie said. “If something were to change, it would apply to everybody. We don’t want to jump the gun.”

Bennett was also concerned about how the change would affect other residents.

“We don’t want to be annexed,” she said. “We don’t want our taxes changed.”

Bennett said the area was one of the few remaining local places that have not been annexed.

“We’d like to keep it that way,” she said.

The item was pulled from the agenda, however the Alvarado property was not the only annexation issue before the council Monday night.

Another point of discussion rotated around the Poole property, situated near Northwest 8th Avenue and Verde Drive. Ontario City Councilman Dan Cummings asked MacKenzie if he had spoken with the Ontario Rural Fire District board about removing that area from its jurisdiction.

MacKenzie said he had not, and Ontario Fire & Rescue Chief Terry Mairs, who serves on the rural fire board, said he did not believe it would be an issue. Cummings said he was concerned about the county road district approving the move into the city, since other property owners were paying double taxes for a year.  

“I still don’t have a response from them,” MacKenzie said of the county road district.

City Attorney Larry Sullivan said it was important for the landowner to be aware of the possibility of paying double taxes to both the city and county. Sullivan also said the city had the option of leaving the public reading open until the city received an answer from the district. Ralph Poole, one of the owners of the property, said he did not have a problem with the possibility of paying double taxes, since it would help to move the process along.

“I hadn’t planned on speaking tonight,” he said. “I thought everything else was ironed out.”

Poole said he believed there should be some sort of system in place so he would know what agencies to check with in order to be annexed. Cummings said he did not believe the road district would deny the annexation.

“Usually they don’t,” he said. “They’d like to get rid of every road they have. They don’t have any money for it either.”

Sullivan said it would take two readings for the ordinance to pass and that those two readings do not have to take place at consecutive council meetings.

“That way it doesn’t put anyone at risk, and allows him to move forward with his project,” Cummings said.

The annexation and rezoning of the property was approved, with Poole offering to communicate with the Ontario Rural Fire District and the county road district in order to gain their approval.

Another issue regarding communication arose when David Eldredge of Eldredge Furniture, situated at 398 South Oregon Street, spoke out against the Proposed Downtown Revitalization plan. On July 8, MacKenzie organized a walking tour of downtown and asked owners in attendance what they would like the downtown to look like in the future. At Monday’s meeting, Eldredge said he believed making the area more uniform would take away from downtown’s individuality.

He also said he believed the downtown area did not need to be revitalized at all, and presented a list of 51 businesses, including Quisenberry’s, Wells Fargo, Economy Inn, and The Competition, whose owners signed a petition opposing any and all revitalization plans for the downtown area.

“I don’t like the negative publicity,” he said. “We’re not sick and we don’t need to be cured.”

He also said the downtown area has maintained an occupancy that surpasses the occupancy of other parts of town such as the West Park Plaza Mall.

“We just want you to leave us alone,” he said. “It’s negative publicity to say that downtown is no good.”

He also said he did not feel the council should “thumb their nose” at the number of signatures he obtained.

MacKenzie said he was only aware of Eldredge’s opposition to the plan and said he would communicate more to see if both sides could reach some common ground.

In other council news:

— The Ontario City Council voted to ratify the International Association of Firefighters contract. This contract will boost the base wage of the eight Ontario firefighters covered under the contract by 2.5 percent in 2008, and 4 percent for each of the next two years. Firefighters will also receive an $80 a month pay increase if they were on the job for 10 to 15 years, and a $125 a month increase if they have been employed with the city for between 15 years and one month and 20 years, and a $175 a month increase if they were employed for more than 20 years and one month. It will also save the city $1,000 per employee because of a change in insurance plans. The net increase for the city is $514 for the next year.

— City Recorder Tori Barnett swore in Ron Verini, a veteran and active duty liaison, as a city councilmember. Verini is filling former Ontario City Councilman Jim Mosier’s vacant position. Mosier, who attended the swearing in, stepped down in June, citing family reasons.

— The council approved the Pheasants Forever proposed hunting area, situated adjacent to the wastewater treatment plant, bordering Malheur and Foothill Drive.

— Ontario City Council approved the final reading of both the compensation committee ordinance and the system development charges ordinance.