JOSEPH – The Joseph City Council unanimously turned down a request from property owner Carol Sullivan to vacate an undeveloped portion of Eleventh Street, where her driveway is located.

The issue received a public hearing during the council’s regular monthly meeting Nov. 3, with Claresse O’Conner representing the applicant, who lives at the corner of Eleventh and S. College streets.

“This would be a very dangerous precedent for the city,” councilor Jim Zacharias said when he moved to deny the request. He felt the city would be performing its residents a disservice in approving the vacation. “I think it’s just bad business.”

At present, the east end of Eleventh Street is being used by Sullivan; it was landscaped, fenced and the driveway put in by the previous owner.

O’Conner said that all the abutting property owners, except for the Oregon State Park Department, had signed statements in favor of the application. She referred to a series of e-mails from a representative of the state park in which the park agreed to approve it in return for some property abutting the Iwetemlaykin Heritage site, but the issue had not been resolved.

City attorney Brandon Eyre pointed out that under city ordinance, 100 percent of abutting property owners must approve of a vacation. The council’s options were to postpone their decision until the issue was resolved, or to deny it. He also noted that the council must find that the move was in the best interest of the citizens of Joseph.

There was testimony against the proposal by two former council members, Mark Lacey (in writing) and Pam Latta, and one former mayor, Peggy Kite-Martin, who all protested against the city giving away one of its main assets, property.

All three were on the council and voted against a vacation request for the same property by previous owner Randy Palmer in June 2007; there was not a formal public hearing for that request.

“We are not a wealthy city and every year our budget committee struggles to find the money to provide necessary services to a landowner,” Latta said. “By approving this application you will, in effect, be giving away more than a city lot to a landowner merely because they maintain the city’s property.”

One suggestion was that the city vacate the property and sell it as a lot; attorney Eyre said that would not be allowed under the city ordinance.

Kite-Martin talked beyond the three minutes allotted for public testimony, seconding Latta’s concern about giving away a public asset. Mayor Sands allowed her to continue briefly beyond, and she was finally cut off after she intimated that Sands had a conflict of interest because of a longstanding political association with Sullivan.

Mayor Sands said, before voting against Sullivan’s request, that he feels the city needs a better policy in place about street vacations, and agreed that there would probably be an influx of applications if this one were to be approved.

In other business, an e-mailed resignation from councilor Roxie Delillo, who is no longer living in Joseph, was read. She said she enjoyed working on the council and was sorry that her business was not successful, which would have allowed her to continue living in Joseph.

Jim Zacharias, who has been on the council for seven years, announced that he may also have to resign if a pending sale of his home within the city limits is finalized.