Local News

The Grants Pass City Council approved zone changes to allow a proposed RV Park and a code amendment allowing public infrastructure on private streets while an amendment making it against to the law to feed feral cats failed. The City Council approved a request for two land use changes on 5.22 acres located at the intersection of NE Agness Avenue and F Street. The request was to change the zoning from Industrial to General Commercial to facilitate the development of a proposed RV Park. The Urban Area Planning Commission had recommended a denial. The hearing pointed out the Planning Commission did not receive sufficient information to make the decision. The Council unanimously approved the second reading of a development code amendment allowing public water, sewer, and storm drainage facilities in privately maintained streets with an easement for maintenance. An uptick in applications combined with expected increases in demand for development on private streets and recent requests by the Home Builders Association resulted in the Public Works Department proposing the code change. The Council dismissed an amendment to the City Code making it unlawful for any person to feed or care for feral cats. In 2023, the Council authorized a contract with JoCo Spay & Neuter for trap-neuter-release services, shelter and feeding community cats in Baker Park. That contract remains in place. The Council then convened as the Urban Renewal Agency to award two grants.

 

Grants Pass Police jailed a woman who allegedly threatened her boyfriend with a knife outside a downtown business this week. The Police Department reports officers responded to a reported disturbance near an unnamed business on SE H Street on Tuesday afternoon. Police said a 61-year-old female subject and her boyfriend got into an argument while parked at the incident location. They said she admitted to taking out a knife and stabbing the seat next to her boyfriend, stating that she would cut him. No one was hurt and no physical contact occurred. According to the report, the woman drove away in a maroon Buick sedan while screaming. Officers searched the area, located her at 11th and I streets, and placed her into custody. The suspect was lodged at the Josephine County Jail for Felony Unlawful Use of a Weapon and Menacing. She was being held without bail. Josephine County Animal Control was called in to take possession of a cat that was inside the suspect vehicle. It was taken to the Animal Shelter.

 

The Josephine County Sheriff's Office arrested a local felon on an outstanding warrant and a weapon charge during a traffic stop in the Fish Hatchery area. The Sheriff's Office reports deputies pulled over a 2016 Ford F-150 pickup driven by a 43-year-old male subject near the corner of Fish Hatchery Road and Genverna Glen on Tuesday evening. Deputies said they stopped the pickup for an improper display of license plates and expired registration tags. They said the driver identified himself as "Justin Rae Buchanan" and they discovered that he was wanted on a local warrant for Driving While Suspended. The man knew he was in trouble and asked to call his wife. A consent search of the vehicle uncovered a "live" round of ammunition, which was seized as evidence. Buchanan was lodged at the Josephine County Jail on the warrant plus new charges of Felon in Possession of Ammunition and Driving While Suspended. His pickup was impounded.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested a man on a total of nine out-of-county warrants at a home on the west side of the city this week. According to the Police Department, officers were assisting Jackson County Corrections when they located the 31-year-old male subject in the 900-block of SW Bridge Street on Tuesday. Police said the subject was wanted on two Jackson County Circuit Court warrants for failing to appear in court for Reckless Endangering, Criminal Mischief and other alleged crimes. They said he was also wanted on a Klamath County Corrections warrant for failing to appear in court for 4th-Degree Assault and two Clackamas County warrant for failing to appear in court on unspecified charges. Officers said the man identified as "Tyler Alexander Hopkins" was cooperative and came out of the house at the request of law enforcement. Hopkins was initially lodged at the Josephine County Jail on the outstanding warrants, but he has since been transferred to the Jackson County Jail in Medford.

 

The Oregon State Police was investigating a hit-and-run crash that occurred this week on Rogue River Highway in south Grants Pass. OSP reports troopers responded to a two-vehicle collision on Highway 99 at Fruitdale Drive on Tuesday at 3:58 p.m.. Troopers said a silver two-door coupe rear-ended a Subaru Outback driven by a 63-year-old Gold Hill woman and then fled the scene of the crash. No one was hurt, but there was significant damage to the Subaru's rear quarter panel and it was towed. According to OSP, there is no suspect information other than a description of the vehicle. Anyone with information on this incident is encouraged to dial *OSP.

 

Firefighters extinguished a large vehicle fire in the Selma area on Wednesday. At 12:52 p.m. yesterday, the Illinois Valley Fire District and Oregon Department of Forestry responded to the incident in the 4,000-block of Thompson Creek Road. IVFD officials said the initial call was for a grass fire that was possibly determined to be a structure fire where Rural Metro Fire Department and American Medical Response were dispatched. They said the fire was first detected on ODF cameras. Arriving units found a vehicle fire with minimal spread to surrounding wildland. Crews worked together to keep the fire small and halt spread into nearby trees. Officials said the cause of the fire was under investigation.

 

The Rogue River City Council has a fairly light agenda for its monthly business meeting this evening. Following Committee Reports and Public Comments, the City Council will move to New Business that contains only four items. The first order of business is to approve Mayor Pam VanArsdale's appointment of Ed Hudson as an alternate member of the Rogue River Planning Commission. A lease agreement with Umpqua Bank for the public parking lot at Main and Pine streets is also on the docket. The final agenda items include re-adopting an ordinance that grants an electric utility franchise and general utility easement to Pacificorp within the City of Rogue River and accepting the May 9th and August 8th meeting minutes of the 2024 Tree City USA Committee. Tonight's meeting starts at 6 at Rogue River City Hall, 133 Broadway Street.

 

The Board of Commissioners continued its effort to remove outdated ordinances from the Josephine County Code during its business session on Wednesday. Following four brief public hearings, the Board voted unanimously to repeal rules pertaining to the payment of attorney fees, utility consumer choice, sanitary landfills and the designation of county property for sanitary landfills. The second readings and approvals of the new ordinances are scheduled for September 4th. Assistant County Legal Counsel Leah Harper testified all of the existing rules are outdated and need to be removed from the County Code. She said attorney fees were never paid to witnesses who cooperated with the District Attorney, the case against Pacific Power's Smart Meters was settled and the former Marlsan Landfill has been closed for many years. Under Administrative Actions, the Board also voted unanimously to approve an order outlining general fund appropriations in various county departments. Scott Blower of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest presented the Board with a certificate of appreciation for the efforts of Josephine County Public Works in the Bear Camp Road Project. The Grants Pass & Josephine County Chamber of Commerce opened the meeting with a presentation on the recent Lemonade Day event.

 

The Grants Pass City Council took several more steps to alleviate the local housing crunch during its regular business session on Wednesday night. The Council approved a resolution awarding a Housing Opportunity Fund grant of $238,152 to PANO, LLC, and InkBuilt for the development of 15 to 20 affordable homeownership units as part of the Allenwood Drive mixed-income housing development. An additional resolution was approved for the Nebraska Trail Apartments at the intersection of Ramsey and Nebraska Avenues in the amount of $241,227. The plan is for 50 or more apartments. Those apartments are to serve households at or below 80% of the average median income. A third resolution awarded an American Rescue Plan Act grant of $800,000 to the Mid Rogue Foundation for Hillcrest Veteran's Village, a proposed development of up to 36 rental units located at 948 NE Hillcrest Drive. The grant is to defer the public infrastructure cost. A resolution approving the purchase of property owned by Asante fronting on NW Midland Avenue, Washington Boulevard and 6th Street for $2 million was also passed.