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NUAMC votes to delay Benjamin Road decision |
By David Sale, Newberg Graphic reporter
E-mail David at
dsale@eaglenewspapers.com
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The Newberg Urban Area
Management Commission examined several “areas of concern” at its
meeting Thursday, debating the pros and cons of adding each to the
city’s urban reserve area.
The city is presently seeking to identify 1,644 acres of buildable
land that may be brought into Newberg’s urban growth area and
developed over the next two decades.
One of the most controversial areas under consideration for
addition to the URA is the Benjamin Road area north of Highway 99W.
While Charles and Ellen McClure are seeking inclusion in the URA as
part of their plans to develop approximately 70 acres pursuant to a
Measure 37 claim, seven neighbors on the west side of Benjamin Road
(opponents of the recent annexation measure) oppose being included
in the URA.
While these property owners have requested exclusion, an eighth
homeowner on the west side of Benjamin Road is in favor of having
their property included.
Whether to recommend the entire area for inclusion or split the
difference — and if so, how — was the first topic of debate for the
commission.
“If we extend services to the McClure property, those pipes can
serve the west side of the road as easily as the east,” said Newberg
City Planner Barton Brierley. “From our point of view, there’s no
reason not to include them in the URA.”
“We can assume the McClure property will be developed as proposed
either way, but we want it on the city water and sewer system,” said
chairman Matson Haug. “Quite frankly, I think the people on the west
side should come in too — it’s a snowball effect. Those owners can
develop their property or not, as they see fit, inside the urban
reserve area.”
“I see no point in forcing them in, if there’s no reasonable
expectation that those properties will be developed any further,”
said commissioner Sally Dallas. “But I see a bad precedent here — if
we allow everyone to opt out who wants to, we wind up with a
checkerboard for a URA and that concerns me.”
The commission tabled discussion of this area for a future meeting,
but proceeded to recommend five other areas be included in the urban
reserve area.
These included a 10-acre section of the Mangis property on Cullen
Lane, where the majority (88 acres) of the farm is already inside
the URA, two sections of the Chehalem Creek canyon along West First
Street, seven parcels along N. Springbrook Road, and the area around
Honey Lane and Aspen Estates, off Highway 240 west of Newberg.
This last area, along with areas to the southeast and southwest of
the city, were mentioned by commissioners as areas where the
commission should investigate further properties for URA inclusion,
in the event that Benjamin Road and other properties northeast of
the city were left outside the URA.
The commission also voted to remove from the URA approximately 70
acres along Bell Road. The area in question is above 460 feet in
elevation, which — as Brierley explained — would prevent Newberg’s
gravity-flow water system from serving the area, unless a new
reservoir were built on Chehalem Mountain. The potential expense of
such a project, the commission felt, rendered the area unsuitable
for future development. |
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From June 2, 2007,
Newberg Graphic
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