Gitchell Building continues its stymying streak
The Gitchell/Waldron building above has been languishing for years astride the railroad tracks and next to Lewis & Clark Festival Park. Access to the building is difficult at best since it was built in 1863 and the railroad essentially landlocked the building in later years when tracks bed was elevated.
By Tom Peterson
The Gitchell/Waldron building got yet another no-decision at The Dalles City Council meeting on Monday, Dec. 13.
For years the building has sat idle while ideas toward renovation and demolition were discussed.
Monday was no different.
City Council, in hopes of bringing the issue to a head, voted to hire a structural engineer to assess the building’s structural integrity at a cost of likely several thousand dollars.
The building, which sits next to the railroad tracks north of First Street and next to Lewis and Clark Festival Park, is The Dalles’ oldest commercial building.
And a group of locals are hoping to save the building from the wrecking ball.
It was first erected in 1863, Archeologist Eric Gleason told the council. And it has been home to a newspaper, Masonic Lodge, lawyers, doctors, and was a place for arriving Inland Navigation passengers and later on a depot for train passengers. In the 1990s it served as a haunted house for the now-defunct Jaycees civic organization.
In recent years, the city, which owns the building, put $250,000 into the building for roofing and stabilization repairs.
Gleason said his group, Friends of the Waldron Bros. Drug Store, had studied the building with the idea of possibly moving it. But costs to do so ran around $800,000, more than was possible by the group. The group has raised $8,000 thus far toward saving the building.
The building continues to sit idle at this point and has been deemed unsafe to enter, according to work done by the City.
Councilors decided on Monday to bring in the structural engineer to assess the building for four possible scenarios and their accompanying costs.
Renovation
Demolition
Moving it
Leaving it in place as is
Once the study is complete, Council will move forward with a decision on what to do next.
Houseless Shelters
City Council delayed a vote on adding definitions and rules for allowing houseless shelters in light industrial and general commercial zones.
Councilors debated on whether it will should be an outright allowed use or require a conditional-use permit and administrative or public hearings.
Kenny LaPoint, Executive Director of Mid-Columbia Community Action Council (MCCAC) requested the conditional use permit to establish a houseless shelter be removed from the law.
He said it could be used to slow down a project that is running on strict funding deadlines, thereby killing it through time, not legitimate reasons for denying a houseless shelter.
MCCAC is in the middle of establishing a $5.1-million Navigation Center in The Dalles at the former hotel across the street from Peterson Cat on West Second Street.
The funding for the Navigation Center must be used by July 2023. It would provide shelter to the houseless in The Dalles as well as provide a single point for providing assistance to those experiencing houselessness. Councilor Runyon asked that the council review the need for a conditional-use permit after the July 2023 deadline.
Councilor Long also noted that the proposed code required that a bathing facility be located on the same site as a shelter, instead of being off-site. Long said that could be a barrier to getting a shelter established, and state law required a bathing facility already, just not on site.
Councilors delayed voting on the houseless shelter code. They agreed to wait for staff to return the code to them with the changes recommended above.
Garbage Rate Increase
Councilors delayed a decision on granting a 5.05 % rate increase to The Dalles Disposal for local services. Councilor Darcy Long asked that city staff present the financials, as is required of the franchise, to better understand the company’s profit margin. She said she needed the information before adding additional costs to locals paying for garbage services.
Council is expected to receive that information and make a decision at their first meeting in January.
The Dalles Disposal is asking the rate increase become effective on Jan. 1, 2022.
With the rate hike, a local resident with a 32-gallon garbage can would see an increase from $18.80 to $19.75 - a 95 cent increase.
Evidence Officer Hours expanded
City Council approved increasing the hours of the city evidence officer from 20 to 30 hours per week. The hour increase is necessary to accommodate a new state law requiring discoverable evidence to be provided to the defense in all cases “as soon as practicable,” according to city staff. Cases are also expected to increase by some 200 during the coming year, putting a higher demand on the officer.
The total increase in expenditures to the Police Department Budget will increase by $26,438 from January 1 to June 30 due to this proposed change. This increase includes pro-rated benefits. There are sufficient funds in the Police Department Personnel Services budget to cover this increase.
Police Chief Tom Worthy told the council that the position could require 40 hours per week before the year is out.
City Council heard the following in other business.
During public comment, Leann Willis complained about a neighbor building homes with decks on East 19th Street. She said decks look into two bedrooms and a playroom of her house. She asked the council to change the code on landscaping so that the neighboring homes would have to plant 16-foot trees closely together so that neighbors could not see into her home. Council took it under advisement.
The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce Lisa Farquharson reported on lodging from July through September and noted that lodging occupancy was at 86.8 percent, which was higher than pre-pandemic years. A complete report from the quarter is located in the council packet. Click here for the full packet.
Former The Dalles Mayor Steve Lawrence told the council they needed to put funds behind building a bike kiosk at Lewis & Clark Festival Park. He said it was needed because the bike trail from Gresham to The Dalles, much of it along the Historic Columbia Highway, will be completed in two years. He said The Dalles should be welcoming these tourists to town. Council was receptive to the idea and intended to look at the project in the next budget cycle.
