HSD and city reach an agreement
By Terry Murry on Wednesday, November 10th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
HERMISTON – The Hermiston City Council and the Hermiston School District have reached an agreement regarding the South First Street and West Highland Avenue intersection at Hermiston High School. The city’s planning commission had stipulated that the district would be responsible for an undetermined amount of money at an undetermined time to help upgrade the intersection and the district challenged that.
Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan said it’s understandable that the district didn’t want to commit to the unknowns in that stipulation. After working with city staff, Morgan says the district has agreed to put up a set amount of money for future needs to improve the intersection.
“Then, they’re able to more or less wash their hands of it and walk away from the issue,” Morgan said.
It will be a substantial amount of money. Morgan said city engineers have said the upgrade to the intersection would cost about $1.5 million. The district will set aside about 25 percent of that cost.
The intersection itself doesn’t even qualify for a traffic light, since the intersection is relatively free flowing except during the times the high school is in session. Morgan added that the area surrounding the intersection complicates things.
“It’s not a simple intersection because it is complicated by its proximity to the Union Pacific branch line that goes to the Port of Umatilla,” he said.
