Council to consider proposed new bridge

By Terry Murry on Monday, August 23rd, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

HERMISTON – The Hermiston City Council meets at 7 p.m. today (Monday) at the Hermiston Community Center. The council will consider a major partition at 1180 N.W. Sjoren Lane.

The land in question is owned by KC Nobles Enterprises LLC, and it is zoned as medium density residential/mobile home. It is approximately 1.68 acres in size and currently contains a duplex and a manufactured home. The proposal would divide the land into two lots. The largest lot would contain the duplex and manufactured home. The remaining land, 0.42 acres, would allow for additional residential development.

The council will also consider spending $50,000 on a study by Anderson Perry of the best location for a bridge over the Umatilla River. Punkin Center Road and Elm Avenue are the possible sites. Umatilla County has agreed to chip in $50,000, and a request has been made to the city of Umatilla to contribute $30,000.

Also on the agenda, the council will go into executive session to review and evaluate the performance of City Manager Byron Smith, which is done annually. It’s estimated the session will last for about 20 minutes. After it is concluded, the council will reconvene and consider approving changes to Smith’s contract.

There are a limited number of chairs available for those wearing face masks. The meeting is also streamed live on Hermiston’s YouTube channel.