Council moves ahead on zoning rules

The Baker City Council on Tuesday approved the second reading of an ordinance that makes more than 200 changes to the city’s zoning and development rules.

Nobody showed up to comment on Ordinance 3296.

Planning Director Don Chance said earlier that changes include banning adult book stores and other adult entertainment businesses within 1,000 feet of a school.

Other changes allow for planned unit developments mixing residential, commercial and industrial uses, cluster developments, utilization of existing smaller lots, changes in setback and side lot requirements, driveway locations and many other provisions that Chance said this would ease development of existing lots and give developers and property owners more leeway to deal with odd lot shapes and other challenges.

In other business Tuesday, the City Council:

• Voted unanimously to accept a low bid of $69,870 from Insituform Technologies, Inc. to rehabilitate wastewater lines under Fifth Street from Broadway to Campbell, under the alley between Third and Fourth streets from Court to Washington, and the alley between Second and Third streets from Washington to Broadway.

Michelle Owen, public works director, said the company will line the inside of existing sewer pipes with resin-impregnated flexible tubing that’s pressed in place and cured with hydrostatic pressure and circulating hot water or steam to produce a hard, impermeable pipe.

Mayor Dennis Dorrah said the process has worked well on other pipe rehabilitation projects in town with less disruption of traffic that required if pipes are dug up and replaced.

In this particular area, Owen said the process is especially advantageous because some of the pipes run under the Baker County Courthouse.

Owens said the low bid was more than $15,000 less than the engineering estimate, so the city staff will negotiate with Insituform to see if they’re amenable to extending the project to rehabilitate additional footage of sewer pipes up to the $85,000 budgeted for the project.

Work is scheduled to begin Nov. 13.

• Formally accepted the assistance and services of the nonprofit Rural Communities Assistance Corp., to assist the city with planning, financial planning, budgeting, rate reviews and funding applications for what Owens said is a number of substantial infrastructure projects Baker City needs to complete to its water and wastewater systems over the next several years.

 Owen said Rural Communities Assistance Corporation is truly a non-profit organization that provides services to communities like Baker City at no charge.

“They can help us in finding the appropriate funding for specific projects,” Owen said.