SGNA 02/09/2017 Minutes
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Bob Krebs with Cherriots/Salem-Keizer Transit spoke first as he had limited time
available.
o Informing us of the change to bus route numbers. This was done in an effort
to simplify and streamline transportation, as well as to avoid having people
get on the wrong bus. Note the changes in route from Salem to Keizer, there
is no direct route, a stop at the Transit center is required now.
o Cherriots is working towards running for 7 days a week. They are trying to
establish a legislative package that will be on a future ballot. It will cost $5
million per year to add the weekend transportation services.
 Question: Why is the cost is so high? Bob informed us that there are
many different parts to it, but that they also provide the Para-Transit
service for disabled individuals and this portion can be quite costly,
it is also very necessary to help those handicapped people get out
and about.
Introductions around room
Minutes from January were approved
Police Officer – Daniel Diaz’s report:
o Daniel is new to working in South Salem, he previously worked in North
Salem and stated that there is a big difference in crime from the North to the
South, that in comparison we have far less crime here.
o We do have several car break-ins, which is a concern. There were a large
number of these occurring between Hrubetz/Liberty and the Sunnyslope
Shopping Center last month (January). Seemed to be a “trend” there.
 Daniel noted that people should be vigilant about locking their car
doors and removing all valuables from the vehicles, if they cannot
park in a garage at night.
o Recently a scam took place where an individual came door-to-door
pretending to be a police officer and asking for donations for domestic
violence. This is NOT the police.
o There were also reports of a man, and two men, coming door-to-door trying
to clean people’s carpets at very weird hours, usually quite late at night.
They have been reported as suspicious and aggressive or pushy about trying
to get inside to clean carpets. Police advise you to BE BOLD AND FRANK,
TELL THEM TO LEAVE. If they do not leave after you ask them to, then they
are committing a crime of trespassing and the police can do something about
it, so please call the police.
o Daniel is also asking for support for the new police station that will be on the
ballot.
 The facility they are currently utilizing was built in the 60’s for 90
police officers and is now housing 190 officers. An electrical closet
has been converted into a locker room and that is just ONE example
of how cramped things are.
The parking situation is highly unsafe currently, there is potential for
an ambush to police vehicles that would immobilize Salem Police to
reach and aid those who might need help.
 The new site for the police facility will most likely be the old Honda
Facility downtown. The size and cost is being broken down into
various options. This new facility would bring the 9-1-1 Call Center
and the Crime Lab/Forensics all under the same roof with the police.
Right now those two operations are in different locations from the
Salem Police. The 9-1-1 Call Center covers 22 different
districts/jurisdictions, all the way to Lincoln City.
o Question: Recently a dog was poisoned in a South Gateway neighborhood.
Someone placed a cup of anti-freeze under the home’s fence and a one-yearold puppy drank it and died. The family is devastated. Have there been any
other reports of this happening around town or was this the only incident?
Daniel reported that he had not heard of this incident and that he had not
heard of any other reports like it.
o Question regarding officer’s training for animal cruelty complaints and
rules/regulations, as time had run over for the officer he would bring that
information for the next meeting.
Mike Barnes, Developer. Here to discuss the infill project just north of Baxter and
Sunnyside Road.
o Engineering company has been contracted for this project.
o Storm-water system will include a Rain-garden. TJ expressed that retention
of water is key and the developer agreed.
o Trees:
 Unfortunately most of the trees happen to be on two of the lots and
they will be removed.
 TJ discussed how large, established trees are important for property
value and hopes the developer would take this into account and Mr.
Barnes stated that he would. He will be retaining as many as
possible, and replacing each tree that is removed with two new trees.
o There will be 9 homes in total, in the “middle market”, 1500-1800 square
foot homes. The entire project should be completed by the December of
2017, if all goes well.
o A resident that lives right near this new development, TK Keen, was present
to ask questions of the developer. When will the grading occur? Mr. Barnes
discussed the movement of dirt will be minimal, that the cul-de-sac will be
used for maintaining water flow. Mr. Barnes and Mr. Keen exchanged
contact information to establish communication as needed between
neighbors and developer. TJ noted that this is an excellent way to do
business as a developer.
o TJ discussed being a good neighbor during the building process, asked if Mr.
Barnes had submitted his application yet and Mr. Barnes informed us that he
had everything ready, but wanted to meet with the Association first before
he submitted the papers to the City. TJ expressed appreciation for his
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consideration and it was asked if there were any other concerns that needed
to be addressed, none were brought forth.
Chris Green, City of Salem Planning
o Land use development with the City is more affordable to use infill. While we
have regulations in place and it needs to be compatible with the surrounding
area, the utilities are already encircling the site, the street is usually there
already and just needs to be extended into the infill area and it reduces the
need to expand our City’s boundary lines
Steve McCoid, City Councilor
o Police Facility: This was originally a Bond proposal of $82 Million, 148,000
sq. ft. Police Facility, we are looking at different options.
 Retrofitting the existing police facility and library, just to seismically
retrofit the 45 year old building and bring the maintenance up to
code would cost $50 Million
 Only a seismic upgrade to the existing facility would cost $15-20
million
 A new police facility, bringing the size down to 115,000 square feet
at the cost of $79 million, at a cost of $508/sq ft, this would include
seismic upgrades to the existing Police facility building.
 Hoping to establish different options for further public discussion
and to get this on the May ballot.
 Since the schools will be asking for a bond at the November ballot,
we do not want to put this facility up against them.
o ADU’s or Additional Development Units: These are NOT tiny homes, but
additions to existing homes. The city is looking into allowing these and there
have been several meetings about them already.
 Discussing regulations such as height restrictions, % of backyard
used, parking etc…
 Steve feels that there was a desire for absolutely no regulations from
citizens, however City will certainly make sure there are some
restrictions and most likely will start out with more stringent than
relaxed.
o Steve encouraged people to go to more meetings about these types of issues.
Stated that we have had many meetings with poor showings or with only
one side of the fence represented, the City wants to hear from everybody.
They have had meetings on AirBnB, where only 15 people came, ADU’s
about 45 people, Uber had low numbers as well.
o Bridge (for cars) News: The city had a meeting to just discuss a community
vision for the Bridge that has been discussed previously, about 200 people
came and a large portion of that number was a representative group for one
issue with the bridge and they were well represented, but they had hoped to
hear from people with different standpoints.
 TJ Brought up the idea that Parent Teacher Association meetings
might be a good place to bring up these issues as there is such a
diverse representation at these meetings.
Walking Bridge to Minto Brown Island: Will be complete as of April, but the
infrastructure cannot be removed at that time and therefore the official
opening and celebration will occur in June.
 Question regarding the costs of this bridge and where that money
came from: Steve stated that the bridge cost $7 million, $6 million
was in the form of grants and $1 million came from the City.
 TJ mentioned that Peter Courtney has been looking for something to
name after himself, that Peter is a pretty funny guy and he said he
wanted to clear things up with the public, “Just because my name is
on the bridge, I am not building it. People keep asking me these
questions, but I don’t know anything about how it is being built, I just
have my name on it.”
o Steve mentioned that we are barely avoiding a flooding situation right now,
the rivers and streams reached the high water watch line, but it is going back
down now.
o The Assisted Living facility that will be built near I-5 and Kuebler is about to
go through. Unless there are any objections to this, it will be pushed through.
 TJ and Steve discussed that this specific project had been looked at in
past Association meetings, that it will not lower any property values
and they have no objection to this being built. It was asked if anyone
had any objections, none were brought forward.
Robert Chandler, Assistant Director of Public Works, Storm-water Expert from the
City of Salem
o Robert introduces himself: 7-1/2 years in current position with Salem,
previously in Seattle Public Works, before that college, before that Nuclear
Submariner.
o “Think of me when you flush.”
o Robert wears a lot of hats, he explained what he had done just the day of this
meeting: Meetings and planning for streets, bridges, school flashers, Parks
and Rec, planning for the Solar Eclipse, discussing bringing Cricket to Salem,
Rotary Club, Riverfront Park fee structure for Wallace Marine parking to aid
Sternwheeler, Consultant firm to discuss storm-water in the Battlecreek
area. That was all just his agenda for today.
o Battlecreek area floodwater is a big concern and there is a study occurring
now to discover where the water lines are at different floodwater stages.
The computer model is pretty accurate and allows us to find what events
and changes will cause what impacts to our area.
 We must remember that we live in a flood area, we will not be able
to FIX the problem, only to mitigate the possible issues that will
arise.
 You, as residents, should have flood insurance. FEMA can do many
things to solve possible problems, but it cannot tell the water where
to go.
 Salem is #1 in the state right now for flood mitigation, we get points
for doing certain things and therefore that allows our residents a
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25% decrease in insurance premiums for flooding. One of those
things is a flood warning system that is in place.
There is a large study going on in the city of Turner that is being paid
for with federal money. This study will help us understand where to
reduce risks. We are partnering with Turner on this study, our
contribution is $25,000 and the whole study is $330,000. The best
guestimate is that from this study there will be a plan that might cost
$10 million to implement for mitigation of flood risks. We have no
numbers yet, that is just a projected guess.
Robert explained how the computer program works and its
downfalls. A hypothetical storm begins at midnight, peaks at
10:00am and goes back down to “typical” rainfall. This is a 48-hour
model. What would be more typical of our valley is more than one
peak rainfall in a 48-hour period, possibly up to 5 peaks in a 72-hour
period. There are so many variances to consider.
Where you live now used to be a forest with trees and soil to absorb
the rainfall, now we have housing development, roofs, concrete,
surfaces that do not absorb and therefore the storm-water system is
expected to collect, store and maintain the rain-flow. Add to that the
clay that makes up most of Salem’s soil and you have a lot of
problems.
Question: Are there any plans to up the current code for storm-water
regulations? The code was updated 4-5 years ago, basically brought
us out of the 70’s. What we have in place now is more stringent that
“normal” codes. It is tough to balance what is reasonable to protect
development, neighbors, and those who live downstream. Nobody
really wins, but some are satisfied.
Question: If Creekside becomes a development, what happens to all
that water? Wouldn’t they be building in a floodway? Creekside
initially put in a preliminary proposal for 352 homes, some were in
legitimate placement and others were in the floodway, but not many.
Our rules stipulate that storm-water cannot be in any worse
condition than it is prior to development. It is uncertain what will
happen in Creekside and they are in a legal battle right now that we
are not privy to all the details.
Mike Barnes made a suggestion: There are times when development
can actually help fix those problems. Development is not always bad
thing. Perhaps the City could give credits to developers who fix or
improve these issues when developing. Discounts on final fees etc.
This might make developers choose better and more sustainable
options.
TJ: Will you define what a floodway is? You cannot build in a
floodway, a floodplain is an area that is regulated for building, but
flooding can occur there. Our regulations are that the 100-year flood
mark must be measured and you need to build 2 feet above that high
mark.
Robert will be back again, next time to explain things like flood plain
mapping and zones, FEMA regulations, he will bring maps and asks us to
bring more questions.
Vickie Stiteler, resident, assisting with potential newsletter
o Vickie made a basic mock up of a newsletter format for us to see. We like the
idea of creating a newsletter at least twice a year. Vickie is willing to help out
and suggested that we could simply send it out electronically. TJ noted that
many times people receive emails and disregard them quickly, sending out a
paper version would be fantastic. Vickie created a newsletter for Turtle
Ridge Wildlife Center and they went through a company named Impressions.
TJ was also familiar with this company.
o Next month we will have a discussion to decide on topics for the newsletter
and/or people to interview for this information. We have run way past time
during this meeting.
Meeting is adjourned. Next meeting is on March 9th, 2017.
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(If you see an error or omission in these minutes, please contact Juli: [email protected] )