Mt. Angel council deals with city expansion

MT. ANGEL – Bringing property into the city limits was City Council business twice at the Feb. 1 meeting.

First, all councilors except Ray Eder, who was absent, voted to add 20 acres of farmland onto Mt. Angel’s western flank. This was the final action needed to bring the property owned by Ron Wachter and his two sisters into the city limits.

The vote also automatically changed the property’s 20-acre density limit to residential single-family zoning. Mt. Angel voters approved the annexation in November.

“We’re certainly delighted … we’re looking forward to developing a really nice residential community in Mt. Angel,” said developer Frank Kirkbride.

On Feb. 22, Kirkbride and representatives of LEI Engineering and Surveying of Salem will ask Mt. Angel-area residents to share their ideas and concerns in a town hall-style meeting. The meeting will be held in the council chambers, starting at 6:30 p.m.

“After this meeting with the community – and when we have a pretty good focus – we’ll work with the city over the next several months, perfecting those designs and getting a plan ready to go,” Kirkbride said.

So far, the conceptual proposal indicated the creation of a standard subdivision with lot sizes similar to those in Maryhill Park, City Manager Eileen Stein wrote in a council action request.

With standard lot sizes and the expenses that come with dividing and building, it’s unlikely that the resulting homes will be low-income, she wrote. A few attendees at last month’s council meeting said they’re opposed to bringing low-income housing into the city limits.

“Typically, housing products that absorb these costs end up being priced at levels above which serve median income or higher, so that the developer’s costs are recouped and/or a profit is made,” Stein wrote.

On the annexation theme – but unrelated to the new subdivision – councilors gave staff the go-ahead to ask the owners of 10 parcels of outlying land whether they want to come into the city voluntarily.

All are outside the city limits but are connected to municipal water and/or sewer services.

Seven properties border the south side of Academy Street. The others are on the northwest corner of town.

Having “extraterritorial connections” costs these owners more than their in-town counterparts on their monthly utility bills: The sewer fee is $19 higher, the water base rate is $6 higher, and water usage costs about 50 percent more.

Joining the city would cost the owner of a house with an assessed value of $175,000 about $730 per year. Besides lowering utility rates, annexation would also bring library membership and the ability to vote in city elections.

After two owners asked if their properties could be annexed into the city, staff proposed asking with an extraterritorial connection if they’d like to be bundled with the others and presented to the voting public for annexation in a future election, Stein said.

“Normally people pay for the process of annexation. If we did it this way, it would be on our dime,” she said.

Councilors informally agreed city staff should pose the question to the affected landowners.

“It’s worth discussing,” said Councilor Pete Wall. “Let’s see where it leads us.”

In other business, the council:

• Listened to Father Bernard Youth Center executive director Don Robison ask for the construction of a crosswalk on South Main Street, primarily to serve pedestrians staying in a new retreat house just northwest of the main campus. Robison said as many as 700 youths will cross there each year. Farther south, two crosswalks currently connect the main campus to the St. Joseph Shelter area. No action was taken; city staff agreed to look into options and cost.
• Learned that repairing City Hall’s leaky roof will cost roughly $6,000 and that a further probe into the building’s construction will reveal whether the walls can support a new roof design and/or would withstand an earthquake. “If it’s a seismic issue, there may be grant dollars available,” Councilor Don Fleck noted. 
• Set a joint meeting with the budget committee for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, to kick off the 2016-17 budget-building season. Currently, the deadline for proposing a budget for the upcoming fiscal year is June 6.