AS THE CITY GROWS, SO DOES CONCERN

By
Helen M. Davis

While driving on Oaklea Road at the western edge of Junction City, one cannot help but notice the building taking place. Homes of all sorts seem to be going in and it makes a person wonder when it is going to stop. Junction City, after all, is a small town and people like it that way. They don’t want the ambiance to change, and they fear all this building will change what they love about the city they call home. There are concerns that the infrastructure will be taxed by the additional dwellings and about the impact of the additional traffic. These concerns are all valid and to be expected as the city grows.

Jason Knope, Administrator for Junction City acknowledges these worries and explains what is being done to keep things livable for residents old and new. The housing going in on Oaklea, he says, is a mixed-use development comprised of single-family homes, townhouses, duplexes, and apartments on land that is owned by the city clear down to High Pass Road. The townhouses are already occupied, having filled quickly.

Some of this acreage is comprised of 80 acres of wetlands that the city is intending to turn into a wetlands park, based on what the city of Forest Grove has done with wetlands of their own. This will involve the construction of walking trails and the installation of gazebos where people can enjoy themselves watching wildlife. This will work will then be turned into wetland credits for when a sewer upgrade for the city is done. Normally, Knope says, the city would buy mitigation credits, but by creating their own, there will be savings of $3-5 million for the community, making this project a winning one.

Already, during the summer of 2015 or 2016, improvements undertaken at the water treatment plant took into consideration upcoming expansion and when the Roundtree subdivision near Prairie Road went in, new water treatment production wells were added, and the sewer system was determined to be fine. The work at the Oaklea location is being done in reserve phases and a traffic impact analysis was conducted that is hopefully going to lead to less crowding when other entrance points are added at 6th and at 10th Streets so the existing entrance at 15th Street is not the only one.

All in all, efforts are being made to ensure that life in Junction City stays livable and that Junction City remains a place that people are pleased to call home. At the same time, it is the city leader’s desire to welcome those who wish to have a place to live that is a little bit country, a little bit city, a little old, and a little new. It has much to offer, such as a theatre that regularly puts on productions of such shows as Willy Wonka, Annie Get Your Gun, and Shrek, to name but a few, and a variety of shopping and dining experiences, and places of worship. It’s a place that celebrates its Scandinavian heritage and its classic cars. It is a place that goes from urban to rural in a matter of minutes. With any luck, it can also be a place where residents say welcome to those who wish to join the community and make them feel like the move to Junction City was a good one. That they are where their children can be safe and form the connections that can only be fostered in a small-town environment, and that they, too, can find a community that is supportive of them.

​It is unique, this place called Junction City, right to the history behind its name and it is hoped that it will retain this uniqueness, this little bit county, little bit city and always be a place where it’s not too big, not too small, but just right.