Corvallis Gazette-Times from Corvallis, Oregon • 13

CoWii. O'tyon, TWkWv. 1, 1979 1 ir in ni nnr -it- r-r i ff estions made tor easin city traffic how the city might pay for the bypass, at Thursday's hearing. Representatives of the City Council, Downtown Commission and County Commission also are expected to testify. jThe state-sponsored bypass hearing originally had been scheduled for March 1, but was postponed at the request of the City Council, whichwanted more port the modified east-side bypass.

The city's Downtown Commission also backs that approach. The advisory committee, however, apparently has reservations about whether such a route is practical. "There are quite a few concerns that the state has repeatedly expressed" about any east-bank route, said Marcie -Anderson, 32S55 Peoria chairman of -the advisory committee. Paying for the project could be the biggest stumbling block, Anderson said. 'There are eight steps from now through construction, and any one of those could be the death-knell for the project," Anderson said.

-One major problem with aniast-bank route, she said, could be the cost of buying the land on which to build the highway. Her committee unanimously favors the street-modification route as an immediate solution to downtown traffic A "street modification" approach, using 1st Street for northbound traf ficr and keeping 4th Street for southbound vehicles, costing an estimated $1.8 million. A "do-nothing" approach, which -would leave traffic patterns downtown as they are now. The City Council, meanwhile, has gone on record as favoring a sixth alternative, known as the modified east-side bypass, which would use one bridge and a two-lane truck route to move the heaviest vehicles out of the downtown area. That proposal was suggested by a San Francisco consultant who Is conducting Corvallis' downtown redevelopment study.

He has estimated such a highway could cost as little as $4 million and could later be expanded to four lanes if necessary, The Benton County Commission threw its support behind the city's choice Wednesday, voting unanimously to sup Anderson said. Since the city and the state already own most of the right-of-way needed for such a route, the costs would be much lower, she added. A plan using 1st Street-could cause major problems for the city's downtown redevelopment plan, which includes a proposal to close the street to traffic and develop it as a riverfront recreation and -commercearea; The plan also calls for construction of a major regional shopping center and parking structures downtown, other new office and commercial buildings and renovation of existing downtown stores. The consultant has said that the plan could succeed even if no bypass is built in the near future. However, the riverfront plans are seen by many as one of the keys to the success of the entire project.

Anderson's committee will present its full report, along with information on mi i i i mm .11 1 111 i.jm School. 4444 N.W. Highland Drive. The advisory committee was appointed by the state Transportation Department more than two years ago to" give Corvallis residents a say in the drafting of an environmental Impact statement on bypass alternatives. At least five possible routes for highway traffic which currently travels 3rd and 4th streets ere outlined in the draft impact statement which the state released in January.

They are: An estimated $24.8 million route using two bridges and a four-lane highway to move traffic to the eastern bank of the Willamette River. An estimated $16.3 million project which would move the highway to 1st Street on the west bank of the Willamette. A proposal to widen 9th Street and cut off several east-west cross streets, costing an estimated $4.8 million. ji By Pat Right Of The Gazette-Times A highway corridor routing heavy traffic from downtown Corvallis to the eastern bank of the Willamette River is a good long-range plan, a state-appointed citizens' committee has agreed. But the committee says that for the Immediate future and possibly the next decade the city should look to existing streets, including 1st Street, to relieve downtown traffic pressure.

The two-part recommendation was released today by the seven-member Corvallis bypass citizens' advisory com- -mittee, which will present its report at a public hearing next Thursday on possible corridors, for a downtown highway bypass. The state Department of Transportation hearing will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the cafeteria of Crescent Valley High Cultural spadework 4 i ii ii wkk Landfill manager promises smell will fade away benefit of the cameras were, from left, Nat Giustina, Glenn Jackson, OSU President-Robert MacVicar and lyman Seely. The center, which soon will begin going up east of Parker Stadium, is expected to be finished in 1980. Members of the Oregon State University Foundation turned over the first spades of sod Wednesday to break ground for million cultural and conference center.

Digging in for the By John Crowley Of The Gazette-Times The odor that sometimes comes from Roche Road Landfill east of Corvallis will disappear soon. That's the word from William Webber, manager of the waste disposal site. Webber said Wednesday that the odor occurs when any organic waste, including paper and other wood products, decomposes in water. Because the pit at Roche Road into which waste is dumped has had relatively high water levels, the odor has been a problem. However, Webber said, waste currently being dumped into the pit should displace the remaining water by the end of the month.

By then, he said, "the poten-tial for a problem will be gone." City Public Works Director Michael Randolph toured the site with Webber and two representatives of the state' Department of Environmental Quality earlier this month. He was responding to a complaint from a Corvallis resident that radioactive waste from the Teledyne Wah Chang-Albany Corp. plant in Millersburg and garbage was being dumped at the site. Randolph discovered only low levels of radiation. But be also found that some-users of the site have been combining their industrial waste with discarded material from lunch rooms and cafeterias.

According to Webber, only a relatively small amount of such garbage, which should have gone to a separate site, has been dumped. He said the problem has arisen at Roche Road because of insuf-. ficient controls over the kinds of waste deposited in containers destined for the landfill. Webber said that ordinarily the water in the pit would cause no problem. Electrically driven aeration pumps in operation 24 hours a day reduce the odor.

backed doctors to go private Publicly By Bill Monroe Of The Cazette-Timei PHILOMATH Two doctors who opened a publicly subsidized practice here nearly two years ago have done so time to study the alternatives. Thursday's hearing will be preceded by a question and answer session with state Highway Division personnel, starting at 4 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. -Copies of the draft impact statement are available at the Corvallis office of the Highway Division, 3700 Philomath at the city Engineering Department office in City Hall, 501 S.W. Madison or from the Oregon Department of Transportation, 2960 E.

State Salem. but the pumps' screens can become clogged between 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. when the pumps, are unattended. When clogging occurs, the pumps shut off automatically to prevent the electric motors or pumps from burning up.

However, Webber said, as more waste is dumped into the pit, the area of water decreases, thus reducing the anaerobic decomposition of the organic waste and its resulting stink. "I don't perceive it (the odor) to be a problem," Randolph said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "When I visited the site back in March, the water covered about 7Mi acres. On July 3, it was down to about one acre, and on July 13, I'd say 'there was about half an acre The situation will take care of itself." Randolph said an increase in rainfall will not affect the situation, because the water in the pit is ground water, not runoff water. Webber said that another pit at Roche Road begun in 1969 was filled in 1977, and that although the water level has varied since, there has been no When the current jU is filled by next spring, no more waste will be dumped at Roche Road, Webber said.

Randolph inspected the site on July 3 with the DEQ representatives and Webber. In a July 10 report to the mayor and City Council, Randolph said the team found "very little evidence of mixed trash and garbage." In addition, he said the investigators did not find any radiation leyelsabove background" (low levels.) Results of tests requested by Randolph to determine radiation levels in monitoring wells at the site should be known within 60 -days, Randolph said. Assuming no excess radiation is found, Randolph said, "it is my conclusion that a radioactivity problem does not exist at the Roche Road Landfill site." did not appear to be pointed at the deputy. Stevenson drew his own revolver and ordered the man out of the car. The man put the gun down and got out, but was angry and combative, Stevenson There were three others inside the car and as Stevenson reached inside to pick up the pistol, the man walked away.

Stevenson was unable to pursue, he said, because he was occupied with question- theothers r. The was not found, despite a check of downtown Philomath by Stevenson and a Philomath Police officer. The other occupants of the car were not arrested. that seems to be the minimum for no drift of sprays from farm land," said Brent Bean, senior planner for the county. i The commissioners also ordered Merrill to inform buyers when he sells the lots that the Coffin Butte landfill is a short distance north of the site.

When housing is built on the land, the developer also will have to build paved roads to serve the residences. Within three months, he must submit a revised development plan showing how he plans' to comply with the conditions. deputy well they have added a third partner andtended medical -school- Doctors David Grube and David Cut-sforth have been joined by a third graduate of the University of Oregon Medical School, Dr. Glenn Morgan, who had been practicing in New Hampshire. All three men are from Oregon and at- graduating in 1973.

Grube and Cutsforth opened their practice in October 1977 under a federal program that guaranteed them salaries. Morgan joined them Monday. Under the terms of their contract, the doctors returned the fees they charged to the National Health Service Corps. The program is designed to enable areas with inadequate medical services Man draws pistol 7 I 17 77 1 1 Oo4fM Ttmet Photo by Tim App4 to do with the money, which could be used to further improve medical services in rural areas, The National Health Service Corps returned approximately $50,000 raised through the doctors'J fees to Family Health-Care so if could buy the emergency medical equipment and vans for the Philomath, Kings Valley, Alsea and Blodgett-Summit fire departments. The doctors have expanded the hours for their office at 13th and Applegate streets.

The new hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9 a.m. iuntil 5 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday 9 a.m. until 8 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. hall ment will receive a specially equipped van donated for use by a three-member emergency medical technician team.

The van, plus other equipment to outfit the team, has been purchased at a cost of about $12,000 by Philomath Rural Family Health Care Inc. Money to support the fire and. emergency services effort has come from private donations and community groups holding such things as pie auctions, dinners, and bingo games. According to Richards, the fire hall is expected to be completed some time in late October or early November. Supplies for constructing the building and labor are all being donated.

-mission decisions are brought before the County Commission by individuals; however, the county commissioners may voluntarily take up an issue without an appeal being filed.) Wednesday's ruling let stand the previous approval of the five 20-acre farm lots, which lie on land zoned for exclusive farm use with minimum lot sizes "of 40 acres. The rest of Merrill's property is in an area zoned for rural residential use. The County Commission approved dividing that area into 13 five-acre residential lots. The remaining 108 acres will be left as a single parcel which Valley is building a fire switched to private practice. The changes have resulted in improved medical services in Philomath and rural areas of western Benton County.

Money raised by their fees in the past two years has been used to purchase emergency medical equipment and vehicles for rural fire departments in Philomath, Kings Valley, Alsea and Blodgett-Summit. Kings By Curtis Byrd Of The Gazette-Times KINGS VALLEY Residents of Kings Valley are building through donations and volunteer efforts a fire hall for a new volunteer fire department that will be equipped to provide emergency medical assistance. Cost of the entire project is estimated at more than $50,000. Buela Richards, secretary-treasurer for the volunteer organization building the new fire hall, said Kings Valley dents have been without adequate fire protection and emergency medical service. The area has received limited fire to improve the services while at the same time giving physicians a start in a practice.

The doctors' practice was partially backed "by donations of Philomath and western county residents, who raised -nearly $70,000 to purchase supplies and equipment for their clinic and formed a non-profit organization, Philomath Rural Family Health Care Inc. Business has been so brisk that the doctors resigned from the federal program and began operating as a private practice July 1. They have agreed to repay Family Health Care for the office equipment by next summer. The corporation will then decide what the rates may drop even further, according to Richards. "The forest service did not provide structural fire protection; it would only prevent the fire from spreading into nearby forests," Richards said.

1 The continued funding for the fire department will come from community subscription rates and matching funds from the state Forestry Department for equipment and training. According to Richards, the subscription rate will be $40 per year for the 160 residents. Nearly 50 percent of the residents already have subscribed to paticipate in the volunteer fire service. In about six weeks the new depart- might be more suitable for housing development, the Planning Commission told. Merrill to revise his plans accordingly.

He did that, and in March the Planning Commission approved a plan calling for five 20-acre! arm lots, 11. two-acre residential lots and one parcel of 122 acres for a possible future housing development. The county commissioners, however, were concerned about the proposed housing density resulting from the proposed two-acre lots, and brought the matter up for further examination. (Usually, appeals of Planning Com- gets away PHILOMATH A man who drew a pistol after a Benton County deputy sheriff stopped him for a routine traffic violation Wednesday evening is being sought by law enforcement agencies. The man got away after putting the gun down when the deputy drew his own pistol.

Deputy Michael Stevenson said he was driving on Philomath's Main Street at 10:12 p.m. when he noticed a car without any tail lights. He stopped the car and was issuing a ticket to its driver, a 33-year-old man from Mill City who is working in Toledo when he saw the driver had pulled a pistol and was holding it chest high. The might.be developed in the future but which" would first require a zoning change. The commissioners let stand several conditions approved by the Planning Commission and added a few of their own.

Most of the conditions are aimed at ensuring that the residential land has adequate water and septic-service before it is developed. In addition, the County Commission ordered that any houses built on the lots be located at least 300 feet from the nearest agricultural land. "The purpose of the 300 feet is that protection from the state Forestry Department division and the Pedee Fire Department The new fire hall, located at the junction of Oregon 223 and Hoskins Road, will provide 24-hour volunteer fire and emergency service care. "Fire insurance rates are extremely high in the area, because fire protection is below minimum fire insurance protection standards," Richards said. According to several local insurance companies, the new firefighting service could reduce residents' insurance rates 25 to 40 percent.

If additional improvements are made, five acres in size instead of the two acres which were approved this spring by the county Planning Commission. Almost nine months ago, Merrill ap- -proached the Planning Commission seeking permission to divide the land into 34 small farm lots, which he planned to sell to city-dwellers who could farm the land on weekends. The Planning Commission, however, questioned whether that was a good use of the land, which is located northeast of the intersection of Tampico and Soap Creek roads about 10 miles north of Corvallis. Sayirg that some of the property County puts stipulations on Soap Creek subdivision By Pat Right Of The Gazette-Times A Benton County landowner will be allowed to divide his 273 acres northwest of Adair Village into residential and small farm lots as long as all dwellings are at least 300 feet from any agricultural land. The County Commission made that ruling Wednesday on a request for planned development approval from Dr.

Milo K. Merrill, SS65 N.W. Tampico Road. The commissioners, however, ruled that all residential lots must be at least A a.