Sustainable City Year Reports 2021-22 (Hermiston)

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    Creating Shared Knowledge: An Asset-based Community Development Project in Hermiston
    (University of Oregon, 2022) Costie, Daniel Paul
    This report discusses the Asset-based Community Development project conducted between March 1st and May 30th, 2022 in Hermiston, Oregon. The purpose of the three- phase project is to better understand the city’s assets as well as gaps in public service provision. Through an environmental scan, a survey, and a focus group, five investigators from Eastern Oregon University, collected and analyzed data offered by both public and non-profit organizations in Hermiston. Our findings indicate that there is strength in the city’s ‘small town feel’ and that there is great potential for growth in the area. Gaps in services that exist relate to better understanding how to serve different vulnerable populations, how to address the economic insecurity many in the community face, as well as how to address the fragmented public services already available in Hermiston. A community directory and a community navigator program are offered as potential solutions to the gaps identified in this project. This work is an important, preliminary step at realizing community development that is both self-sufficient and inclusive. Continued collaboration is needed in order to optimize the value of this ABCD.
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    Green Cities: City of Hermiston Visioning, Planning, and Design
    (University of Oregon, 2022) Stephens, Ric
    How can cities become more sustainable, resilient, and regenerative? This question is the foundation for studies in the“Green Cities”course that examines the history and future of the interface between urban growth and environmental concerns, and the technological, social, and political forces that continue to shape it. (Green Cities syllabus) The course is within the University of OregonSchoolof Planning, Public Policy and Managementcurriculum.For the Fall 2021 course, students collaborated with theSustainable City Year Program to conduct activities related to visioning, planning and development for the City of Hermiston. These activities included focused groups, design charrettes, research papers, icon/font design, public art compilation, and informational videos. The theme for this quarter was“experiential planning,”environmental design corresponding to experience/knowledge-based socio-economics.
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    North Hermiston Local Circulation Plan
    (University of Oregon, 2022) Sam, Evin; Miranda, Gee Ann; Orozco, Omar; Siebenthaler, Arthur; Alghanim, Khaled; Kristof, Evan
    The City of Hermiston is a growing town located in the northeast part of Oregon. In the early 2000s, Hermiston had a population of about 13,000 people. With more homes and schools under construction, the town expects to reach a population of 20,000 in the next decade. Hermiston is a small town, and with a growing population, traffic will increase, causing large amounts of congestion. The congestion will primarily be an issue during peak hours in the morning and afternoon. Most of the congestion occurs on Highway 395. Portland State University capstone students are responsible for designing different alternatives that the team will present to the city of Hermiston. The report will include CAD drawings, a cost estimate, and a construction schedule. The alternative designs will focus on easing congestion, providing better access for residents and commercial establishments, pedestrian and driver safety, and total construction time. During a site visit, the team looked for areas along Highway 395 where drivers could make an earlier turn that would ease up the turning lanes on W Theater Lane and Highway 207. Highway 207 had an issue with an existing business, so the team decided not to evaluate the street for a potential redesign. ODOT had already purchased as much right- of-way as possible in the intersection, but the existing business showed no interest in relocating. No more can be done unless the property is bought and demolished. At an early design stage, the City of Hermiston decided that designing bike lanes was not preferred due to the popularity of using automobiles to get around town. The team ultimately produced three designs that the City could look into, not including a no-build option. The alternatives include a new street layout from Highway 395 to W Theater Lane, a new street layout from Highway 395 to NE 4th Street, and an intersection redesign from W Theater Lane to Highway 395. The team met with stakeholders around the area, and all alternative designs were disclosed. The stakeholders approved of each one. Stakeholders described that congestion was noticeably becoming an issue and wanted a solution. Some stated it was nearly impossible to make a left turn onto Highway 395. Another issue was the safety of employees, as drivers would speed and cut through the parking lots to get around traffic. With stakeholders understanding that redevelopment will occur throughout the city, these problems will worsen if no initiative is taken. After a thorough analysis, the recommended solution to solve the central issue of congestion and safety is to create a new street layout. The new street layout will cut through the privately-owned property to connect Highway 395 to NE 4th Street. The new street layout connecting Highway 395 to NE 4th Street is the best alternative as it will provide the best solution to ease congestion on Highway 395. The new road would also provide better street access to nearby residential areas and discourage the public from entering businesses using their rear entrance. This design will not affect traffic flow but will require right-of-way acquisition from private parties. The City of Hermiston officials approved this design as it would better impact congestion while having a slightly better cost than other design alternatives. In addition to adding a new roadway, swales will be added for drainage, and sidewalks will be constructed for pedestrians. This layout will allow the City to incorporate a new signal at Highway 395.
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    Information Needs Assessment for the City of Hermiston
    (University of Oregon, 2022) McCullough, Sarah-Mae; DeVigal, Andrew
    The goal of this report is to understand the existing information ecosystem in Hermiston and Hermiston residents’ information needs. Recommendations emphasize how the City of Hermiston and other local entities can improve information flow. The Engaged Journalism class conducted a survey, led four facilitated conversations, and visited the site to better understand and meet the needs of Hermiston residents. Overall, residents report feeling well informed about their community, with an average rating of seven on a scale of one to 10. The local Facebook group “What’s Happening in Hermiston” is the first place many residents look to find information on the community, and some residents mentioned that the Facebook group posts important events faster than the local news outlets do. In regards to local news outlets, the Hermiston Herald is the most popular. More than half of all survey respondents said the newspaper is where they find local news. Finally, the Hermiston Public Library was not as popular among respondents. Less than 20% of respondents indicated that they found out about local events from the library, and less than 10% considered it a physical gathering space for community members. Based on these findings, students compiled seven categories of suggestions that could help Hermiston better meet its residents’ information needs: enhancing the Hermiston Library with physical upgrades and more events, translating more text and media into Spanish, taking advantage of online information sharing platforms, fostering physical gathering spaces such as at the Food Pods in Hermiston, creating a community advisory board, and sharing communication platforms.
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    SCYP Hermiston Compilation Report
    (2022) SCYP Staff
    This compilation report details the collaborative efforts of the University of Oregon’s Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP) partnership with the City of Hermiston during the 2021-2022 academic year. SCYP’s first partnership in eastern Oregon, the City of Hermiston sits at the heart of the Pacific Northwest. Classes from the University of Oregon, Portland State University, and Eastern Oregon University proposed solutions to the challenges that the City of Hermiston faces managing significant population growth and in its role as the region’s trade center. The report summarizes student work across six projects and includes a press book highlighting media coverage from the year.
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    Building a Neighborhood: Community Development Strategies for North Hermiston
    (University of Oregon, 2021) Harris, Joëlle; Arroyo, John; Sandoval, Gerard; Knudson, Kaarin
    Recent economic investment of some of the largest companies in the US make Hermiston the fastest growing city in Eastern Oregon. As a result, Hermiston is experiencing rapid change in population growth and urbanization of rural land. The city of Hermiston presented students with the opportunity to present ideas for a site that is experiencing dynamic changes of due to rapid growth. Five student teams were assigned a thematic area of focus to help deepen their research and frame their master plan proposals for the project site. From this focused research, students developed key strategies and recommendations for the City to consider. The student teams identified four key strategies to transform the project site into a vibrant neighborhood: increasing connectivity, focusing on affordable housing, placemaking opportunities, and community engagement and equity. The key strategies respond to the issues identified by the City by: • Promoting connectivity and building robust alternative modes of transportation. • Prioritizing affordable housing and leveraging development partnerships to annex vacant and blighted property. • Using generative planning policies and creative placemaking to build community and foster small business. • Focusing on community engagement and deliberate inclusion of the Latinx community. This report is a summary of the primary ideas and strategies proposed by the student teams. The research and analysis undertaken by the student teams is described and insights that influenced the student teams approaches are highlighted.
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    Financing an Aquatic Center: Health and Wellness in Hermiston
    (University of Oregon, 2021) Kataoka, Natalie; Lewis, Rebecca
    This report evaluates alternatives to fund a new area Health, Wellness, and Aquatic Center located in the city of Hermiston. Funding options that students evaluated included: • Create a special park and recreation district • Create anintergovernmental entity • Place construction and management of facility under the Hermiston Parks and Recreation Department To evaluate these alternatives and make a recommendation, students researched financing strategies and assessed the feasibility of their proposals. Students also reviewed relevant statutes and analyzed GIS-based maps of Hermiston’s existing city limits to determine the boundaries of a potential parks and recreation special district. Relevant facility funding case studies from comparator communities informed student proposals. Additional financial and political considerations relevant to the preferred alternative included: capitalizing on revenue from neighboring cities, working within the City’s existing framework or creating a new district, and factoring in current resident opinions on increasing taxes. Proposals leveraged mechanisms such as taxes, bonds, user fees, and system development charges as funding sources for the construction and operations of Hermiston’s Health, Wellness, and Aquatic Center. The selection and integration of mechanisms can be guided by teams assessment regarding how Oregon Revised Statutes allow municipalities to finance capital projects. Following the summary of proposal packages and the alternative recommendations of Group A and Group B, each proposal was evaluated based on equity, neutrality, efficiency, and productivity. Students ranked the of proposal packages from most to least recommended at the conclusion of this report.