City of Lowell: How do you please everyone when development and part-time policing are at issue?

By DEAN REA/Correspondent/The Herald — Lowell city councilors addressed two challenges faced by many cities of a thousand residents during Tuesday night’s work session: (1) How to develop a downtown business section that meets public expectations and (2) how to combat crime with a part-time police force.

The first challenge involves selling property the city acquired in 2020 to someone who will build a business that doesn’t compete with existing businesses and one that will enhance the city’s development plan.

The city now owns all of the property in the downtown block framed by East Main Street, West Boundary Road and Pioneer Street, most of which is a grassy field. On June 12, the house there will be burned during a training exercise to make way for the business development.

After a half-hour discussion of how the public may react to sale of the property, council members decided to follow a three-step 90-day process modeled after one used by Veneta in inviting prospective buyers to submit a letter of intent and later to address financing and construction plans.

Cost of police service provided by Oakridge to increase by 3 percent

The policing issue followed a review of law enforcement services with the City of Oakridge, which next year will cost Lowell $30,415 for an average of 40 hours of police service. This budget item, which will be considered during the next council meeting, represents a 3 percent cost increase.

Council members retraced earlier discussion of how to combat what they called a continuing serious problem of property theft, but concluded that the part-time Oakridge police arrangement and public education about how to protect property against theft are first steps in providing needed law enforcement protection.