Corbett Safety Meeting Notes 2-7-2018Forest Service: The Forest Service is hoping to get the lower plaza open at the Falls by mid-Spring, they need to get the rock wall replaced/repaired first. The Shady Creek bridge was on the schedule to be replaced before the fire and that will still be closed. (This is the Bridge before the Benson Bridge, which is why they are only looking at the opening of the lower plaza.)
Multnomah and Hood River County Sheriff's Offices will be working with the Forest Service to ticket anyone who is caught going into the closed area. If Search and Rescue is required there will be fines issued for each violation.
Corbett Fire District: This is the "new" name of the Fire District #14 and the district has started with the logo changes. They will be incorporating 14 into the logo to honor the prior name.
January had 20 calls, which is a record low. This may be attributed to the better weather and fact the trails are still closed.
There has been shared training with Citizen's Patrol for first aid and the two groups are melding together very smoothly. They will be looking at doing the shared training twice a year.
The district has been working with Land Use Planning to get a low impact l.e.d. variable message sign for the front of the fire hall. This is to help get updates out quickly, be able to do remote updates and provide current safety information to the community. The district is looking at turning the sign off during the evening hours if this will help move the process along.
This summer or fall the focus will be on replacing the Aims water tender.
On a lighter note, the fire hall now has a Kuerig coffee, tea and hot cocoa machine to offer during meetings, bring some change for donations to help offset the cost.
Mt Hood Community College Board Member: The Board is on track with the hiring of their new President and there will be public forums to meet the candidates as the process moves along. They are encouraging public participation in the process.
Multnomah County Sheriff's Office: They will be starting the annual Youth Academy so if you know any 14-17 year olds who are interested have them sign up. The meetings will mainly be on Saturdays, but there will be two Tuesday evenings involved.
Some of the training topics may include: Patrol Tactics and scenarios, Defensive Tactics, Handcuffing, “Verbal Judo” scenarios, SWAT Team Demonstration, East County Gang Task Force, Use of Force, Crime Scene Investigation, River Patrol Operations, Laws and Report Writing.
Citizen's Patrol is recruiting for new volunteers, the commitment is 6 hours a month.
Multnomah County Emergency Management: This is grant writing and budget season and the Office is happy to say they have procured a $10,000 grant for Citizen's Patrol, $14,000 for AIRES (heard, not spelled out. Rep left early so wasn't able to clarify) and they have applied for a grant to help pay for the variable messaging sign for the Corbett Fire Department.
Friends of the Sandy River Delta: The FSRD is looking to get Ambassadors at the trail heads to help answer questions people have on the restoration project and to try and keep some order in the parking lots. If the funding is there they would also like to place Ambassadors on the closed trails, realizing that the Forest Service is down staff. Friends of the Gorge have played a big part in getting grants.
NEMCCA: Multnomah County Planning Commission passed a recent mandatory amendment to the National Scenic Review due to a lawsuit between the Gorge Commission and Friends of the Gorge. This is in regards to "air quality" and "adverse impact". A workshop session started on allowed accessory dwellings in some designated properties for affordable housing, and what kind of guidelines need to be considered. If you want to have your voice heard please come to the meetings and give input regarding the work sessions. Agri-tourism was addressed regarding parking being allowed in MUA-20 zones on adjacent properties, public record was opened to allow some late testimony to be considered.
NEMCCA hosted a ten person meeting with the neighbors of the grow on Lucas road and the new manager of the site. There was a lot of sharing between all parties and contact information was exchanged, future plans discussed and visits to explore the site were
arranged. The new manager appears to genuinely want to work with the neighbors and is working with Multnomah Planning Land Use to come into compliance on all issues.
Gorge2020 meeting was briefly touched on, along with discussion from those in attendance.
Oregon State Parks: Ainsworth State Park will be opening March 9, the trails around it are still closed. The Vista House will open daily starting March 9 from 9-4.
District Attorney's office: Gun violence was down in Gresham and Portland, but the year ended with an uptick in December. A recent shooting has created concerned about retaliatory violence and everyone is working to help keep the situation calm.
The Rosewood Initiative will be having another Legal services day on Friday the 9th.
Oregon Department of Transportation: Addressing a question on traffic restrictions: You can not put traffic restrictions in place because funding for roads comes from all areas of the State and the policies have to be consistent on all roads. This includes gating the road.
Currently vehicles greater than 50' are not allowed from Larch Mt to Ainsworth State Park.
A road study done before the fire showed that based on the posted speeds, weight of vehicles, road layout, etc the Old Scenic Highway can handle 1,200 vehicles an hour, the actual number being shown by the traffic study is there are 600 vehicles an hour. The problem has shown to be too many cars stopped in wrong places or waiting at the parking lots for other cars to leave.
With the closing of the road there has been work done to investigate opening the road in a different traffic pattern, especially in the Waterfall area. (Bridal Veil to Ainsworth) The Old Scenic Highway is a National Historic landmark which is significant because the options are limited due to the Gorge Management plan.
On 2/13 there is a Long Term Congestion and Safety Plan workshop. This will be a structured forum to look at existing conditions, ideas to keep traffic flowing like carpooling, transit, park and ride options, one way areas, etc. Discussion regarding the Pros and Cons of each option will be encouraged. If one way is selected as an option there will be a big push to engaged the residents and explain the process and expectations.
Space is by RSVP to Terra Lingley at ODOT.
On 2/21 there will be a Project Leadership Meeting where the outcome of the prior meeting will be heard and presented.
Right now they are looking at sometime in Spring to open the Old Highway.
Mid-February to mid-May the Eastbound slow lane of I-84 will be closed from Wyeth to Lindsey Creek. There will be a hard barrier about five feet out from the side of the road to handle bike traffic. Since the bikes will need to be traveling in the construction area there will be a gate that will have bikers call for an escort through the construction zone.
There will be some rolling slow downs Westbound starting Feb 21 on I-84 during construction on parts of the retaining wall. Mile posts 51-54.5.
http://www.oregon.gov/odot/projects/pages/project-details.aspx?project=HCRHWYODOT is using the good weather to finish up paving projects and plan on having the new Variable Messaging Signs up by the end of February.
The transient population east of Jordon Road is increasing with the sweeps of 1,000 Acres. ODOT is adding 15 new contractors to help post required notices and clean up the camps. County services will be contacted to help those who would like assistance, possessions left behind will be held for 30 days.
(Regarding question on increased truck crashes) The speed limit has increased to 70 miles an hour in The Dalles, with trucks going up to 65. Drivers are not reducing speeds when they come to the lower speed signs and with cuts in the budgets for patrols the enforcement is limited. When damage is done to the railings or bridges the companies (or driver) is charged for 100% of the cost, but right now there are 986 Westbound damaged posts with only 30 reported on who caused the damage. From Troutdale to Hood River there are approximately 2,000 pieces of guardrail that need replaced.
There is a contract out right now from Corbett to Hood River for rail fence work and rock work.
Hazardous tree removal has been finished from Bridal Veil to Ainsworth with ODOT, State Parks and Forest Service scheduled to inspect to verify that it is believed all of them have been removed, and that the areas are left as appealing to look at as possible. Above the East viaduct they will need to put in a rock retaining fence due to the amount of debris built up and expected to move. Geologist are modeling the rock wall right now to make sure they get what is required for the fence.
ODOT is looking in to Re-establishing the 3' set back on the corner by the Job Corp. Right now the markers are getting clipped by passing motorist, this appears to be happening when they are moving to the right to avoid a vehicle that is too close to the center line.
Crown Point Historical Society: Membership meeting at the Fire Hall on 2/13, come and join.
Ground breaking on the new building will be April 7, 2018 at 11 am.
http://crownpointcountrymuseum.org/