How an Eastern Oregon town’s expected population surge is creating opportunities and challenges

The city of Stanfield, just southeast of Hermiston, is on the verge of explosive growth. The East Oregonian reports that roughly 450 new homes are set to go up in the next few years, representing a 50% population gain to the city of 2,400 residents. The increase means a larger tax base and the possibility of new economic opportunities, but it could also necessitate costly upgrades to the city’s wastewater infrastructure and school facilities as the district anticipates more students.

Stanfield City Manager Benjamin Burgener joins us to talk about the challenges and opportunities of rapid growth.

The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer:

Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. The City of Stanfield, just southeast of Hermiston, is on the verge of explosive growth. As the East Oregonian reported recently, the city of 2,400 residents could see a 50% increase in its population in just a few years. So how does a city prepare for growth of that magnitude? What are the challenges and the opportunities? Benjamin Burgener joins me to answer those questions. He is the city manager of Stanfield. Welcome to Think Out Loud.

Benjamin Burgener: Thank you. Good to be here.

Miller: For folks who haven’t been to Stanfield before. Can you give us a sense for what it’s like?

Burgener: Stanfield is one of the best communities in Oregon by far in northeast Oregon, as you mentioned, close to Hermiston. We’re just a few miles away from the Columbia River there, pretty central to a lot of different things. It’s a largely agricultural area. But the thing that people love most about Stanfield is we are small, have that small town feel, but we’re really close to a lot of the larger amenities. You go to Hermiston, which is about 20,000 people. We got the local stores that you typically see in any town and then pretty close to Tri-Cities or Portland, within a few hours. Tri-Cities within 45 minutes. And then Portland, you go much larger, within three hours. Then you got all the outdoors surrounding it as well. We’re right off the I-84 interchange as well. So that also drives a lot of traffic through the city.

Miller: We’re gonna get back to that point you made about what one of the things people like about it is a small town feel because that seems to be at the heart of questions about how you maintain that with a lot of growth. But I want to turn first to housing. A lot of people might think of the housing crisis, the lack of enough housing as being a really acute problem in medium-sized cities or bigger cities. But what is the housing situation like right now in or near Stanfield?

Burgener: I moved here about 3.5 years ago and when I moved here, there was not a single house on the market. People just do not leave Stanfield and there wasn’t a whole lot of new development happening. So that was one of those things. As we reached out I found out, as a city Manager, there are a lot of people who wanted to live in Stanfield. There just weren’t any housing options. And, like I said, a lot of people were not moving out. So no, there was no way to come into the city. And even still today as we have these developments, the second that the house is up on the market, it’s gone. So there’s definitely a huge need for the desire that people have to live in Stanfield. Just a really short supply, for the time being.

Miller: Can you give us a sense for the developments that have been approved and are now underway, a sense for the scale of them and what they’re going to be like?

Burgener: Yeah, absolutely. The great thing about the different developments since I’ve been here is that it encompasses the whole scale of different types of housing. We’ve had the Umatilla County Housing Authority put in their development of four units just a year or two ago, obviously more affordable housing. So we have that and then it goes all the way up to some individually partitioned lots where you’re getting a lot bigger homes and everything in between there. On the south half of town, we’ve got 100 new town homes that are gonna be put in, a whole new development on the eight acres there. And then on the north side, a couple miles away, we have two different developments, both very different.

You have one that has more of a first time home buyer feel to it. And then you’ve got a newer developer to the area that’s gonna be putting in a manufactured home park as well as more of that middle income housing, slightly larger there. So there’s a total of about 430 more units. We’ve already had 89 built and then 430 more going in which, to put that in scope, Stanfield in the last two decades hasn’t had more than 10 to 20 homes. And we’re doing that every single year.

Miller: Wait, 10 to 20 homes over the course of a decade? Or 10 to 20 homes each year?

Burgener: No, in a decade. So for the last two decades, we are doing more every year than even in the last two decades combined.

Miller: And all of that has already been approved right, in terms of going through all of the zoning and various municipal level approval processes? I imagine, is there more that’s potentially in the works as well for a little bit further down the line?

Burgener: Oh, yeah and that’s just on the residential side, the housing side. But even on that same scope, we have other developers, weekly if not monthly, coming in looking for land to build on. And there’s another one that has brought, at least to the council, their preliminary scoping, where they’re looking about 1,000 units up in that area in the northern area of Stanfield as well, which is more than double than what we’re doing right now altogether. So, realistically if that went in and that one hasn’t gone through the planning, we could literally double the size of Stanfield as opposed to just a 50% increase. So, there’s a lot of potential and even more beyond that, depending obviously how the economy goes and other things.

Miller: How do people who are there now, residents of Stanfield feel about this? I mean, I imagine there are maybe 2,400 different points of view about this. But broadly, what are you hearing in terms of the fears or excitement about this growth?

Burgener: You’re right. I get a large differing opinion depending who we talked to. I remember the very first development or couple of housing units that were supposed to go in, there was a neighbor that came into City Hall. And he’s like, ‘I moved away from Portland to get away from stuff like this.’ I’m like, that’s like three houses. ‘It’s like you’re ruining our small town.’ I was like ‘I don’t think three houses are gonna’ ruin that feeling there.’

Miller: But, how telling is it that it’s somebody who is a relative newcomer, who was complaining about changes?

Burgener: Yeah, they really do, as you mentioned earlier, like the small town feel. That’s what drew them to this area and continues to draw people. So one of the major concerns, even with the people who are excited about the growth because with growth comes added opportunities to bring in businesses and other opportunities for them in the city. One of the biggest things that people mention is how do we keep that small town feel and not lose that, with this growth?

Miller: How do you think about that as a city manager? And is that something that you can even manage or does it just happen by itself?

Burgener: Yeah, that is a great question and one that is difficult on a lot of different levels but it still is possible to some extent. I mean, obviously there is the right of any landowner to develop their land as long as it is developed according to our code and the laws of the land. But at the same time where the city does have some impact with our development code and comprehensive plan. It’s kind of that scoping document the city puts together to kind of have that look and feel of the area, as long as it doesn’t go against a statute.

Then there are certain things that we can implement such as the width of roads, how open do we want, the lot coverage or landscaping. There are certain things that we can impact. And when the developers come in, they have to abide by these codes so that we may not be able to control how much development or whether they want to develop here or not. But you can control that piece where it’s the look and feel and at least we can control how they develop.

Miller: What have you heard from the school district which in the coming years could see a gigantic increase in students?

Burgener: I work with the superintendent quite a bit and she’s actually on our Planning Commission. So she’s well involved with it over the last year or two. But she has concern with the school district because just several years ago they passed a bond to accommodate the growth they had already had and to look through, based off of Portland State University’s projected growth, to make sure they had enough capacity for those students. Well, that 20 year growth was done within a year. And so as they passed that bond and they built this new facility, these new add-ons, they’re looking at which is we just went out to the taxpayers, we just did a bond and already we’re looking at the possibility pretty soon that we’re gonna have to go out again to do some more additions or to build another building.

So there is that frustration or that concern to figure out how to make that happen. And it’s also hard to tell when that’s gonna be needed. Just because there’s housing coming in, not every house has a student in there. So depending on who moves in there and then how many students come in dictates how quickly they need to figure that out. So she’s working with us and developers that come in to identify maybe some when and like you said, there’s only so much you can do. So she’s really trying to scope that out and figure out where they can expand and get ready for that when it’s time to go.

Miller: We have just about a minute and a half left. But what about those same issues at the city level? You’re gonna have a bigger tax base. But with caps on property taxes, will you be able to provide all the services that all the new residents are expecting?

Burgener: We have actually one of the smallest permit tax rates in the county. But with water sewer infrastructure, a lot of that is dealt off of the utility fees. So with being able to handle the new residents coming in, we have the capacity already that was built into our sewer plant before. So we have that. But beyond the approved developments, there is that concern of figuring out how we’re gonna fund. Our biggest concern is the new sewer plant that will have to be upgraded or replaced. We’re going through a lot of planning right now with our engineers. Depending on what they figure out or what they identify, we’ll have to go through and that’s a $13-$20 million project, depending on the prices of the time. And it’s not an easy pill to swallow for a small city. So we’re trying to work with different agencies to come up with a funding strategy for that and we’re planning well ahead, many years ahead so that when the time comes, we should be able to have a plan in place and be able to take care of it.

Miller: Benjamin Burgener. Thanks very much.

Burgener: Yes. Thank you.

Miller: Benjamin Berner is the city manager of Stanfield, which is expecting at least a 50% increase, maybe a 100% increase in their population in the coming years.

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