By CHRIS AADLAND
MISSION, Ore. — A safer and newer-looking parking situation will soon greet those pulling up to the Nicht-Yow-Way Senior Center after a few weeks of work that could complicate access.
Work is expected to begin this week on a project to upgrade the crumbling parking areas at the building that houses the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Housing Department office and senior center, according to Housing Department Director Marcus Luke.
The work will take approximately three weeks, Luke said in an email. Contractors will start with the Housing Department’s parking area by first ripping out old asphalt and concrete, and then turn to the senior center’s lot.
In the meantime, the senior center and housing office will resemble a “construction zone” and not be “easily accessible,” he said. While work is being completed, the Housing Department front office likely be closed, but staff will still answer phone calls and go meet residents at their units or by the mailbox side of housing office if needed.
Those looking to access the senior center when its parking lot on the south side of the building is ripped up will likely have to use the northern entrance, Luke said.
When the work is completed, the senior center’s parking lot will be up-to-code and feature accommodations like access ramps, to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, he said. “We’ve been trying to do this for the past [five] years,” Luke said in an email, adding that the new parking areas will “look much nicer” and will “be much safer for all to drive and walk up to [the] senior center.”
