By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
May 6, 2008

The Hood River County Commission heard pro and con arguments on Monday about a plan to house four young adult males on Rockford Road and teach them life skills.

“This discussion will be heard by the commissioners but they will not engage. There is a possibility down the road that this might be a land-use issue that we would have to hear,” announced Chair Ron Rivers.

Allyson Pate, director of WINGS, the nonprofit group operating the program, briefed the elected body about the project. She said the participants would be men who had aged out of foster care but were not ready to live on their own. She said these individuals would not be felons, sex offenders or drug users.

In addition, Pate said the activities of the men, ages 18-23, would be monitored by a house parent “24/7.” She said other volunteers would also frequently be on site to teach the young adults gardening, money management and other responsibilities.

“No one on our board would think of putting a dangerous criminal in anyone’s back yard,” said Pate.

JoAnn Armesto, who lives on Country Club Road, asked the commission to intervene on behalf of residents in the area. She said WINGS could not guarantee a 100 percent success rate for its new program. Therefore, she said neighbors would be “easy picking” for men who decided not to make the right life choices.

“WINGS is testing their program in our backyard, not theirs, so we are their guinea pigs,” she said.

Armesto informed county officials that the 3-acre property on Rockford Road being purchased by Pate and her husband, James, had two manufactured homes on it. Therefore, she said, WINGS might start its program with four men, as allowed by current zoning, but could end up requesting that the county grant them the ability to house eight individuals.

Shannon Perry, a teacher and resident of nearby Markham Road, reminded the commission that Hood River’s shelter for victims of domestic violence was sited in a residential neighborhood, as was transitional housing for young women, ages 18-24.

“Part of what makes Hood River so great is that we are a community, we help take care of each other. It really does take a whole village,” said Perry.

Rebecca Van Hee, a Rockford Road resident, said her family’s “pursuit of happiness” would be impeded by the potential safety threat. Her home is for sale and she said that having the men living next door could adversely affect the market value of her property.

Barbara Cleary, who resides on Country Club Road, said the WINGS project qualified as a business and should not be allowed in a residential neighborhood.

Pate expects the first four recipients of WINGS assistance to move into the house sometime this summer.