Even before a trio of challengers swept into city offices Nov. 7, the citizens of Canby had made it clear they were ready for a change.

The first indication occurred May 16, when voters approved the Canby School District's $30.8 million bond request. A similar measure had gone down to defeat just a year and a half earlier.

Another shift in attitudes was revealed Sept. 19, when voters rejected the city's proposed 301-acre annexation measure. All of the city's previous annexation requests had passed with flying colors.

The defeat of the annexation measure set the stage for the Nov. 7 election. This week, a new mayor and two new councilors will take office, heralding a new era in Canby city government.

Of course, Canby changed in many other ways as well. The opening of a new Fred Meyer store prompted the closure of Roth's Family Food Market. The Casa Verde project gave Hispanic farm workers and their families an affordable place they could call home. And the opening of the Canby Skate Park gave youths a place they could call their own.

In retrospect, 2000 turned out to be a bellweather year in the city's history.

Here's a look a the Top Ten Stories that appeared in the Herald in the past year:

Citizens change face of city government

Four years after losing to Scott Taylor, Councilor Terry Prince defeated the longtime incumbent mayor of Canby by more than 400 votes in the Nov. 7 general election.

Prince captured about 55 percent of the vote, the Clackamas County Elections Office reported.

Taylor was bidding for his fifth consecutive two-year term, and he had beaten Prince by 216 votes in the 1996 mayoral race. His 1998 re-election was uncontested.

Prince has worked for Lile Logistics for 11 years, and has been a City Council member for 11 of the past 13 years, including four years as the panel's president.

Prince ran a joint campaign with two City Council candidates, Teresa Blackwell and Patrick Johnson, who both won election for the first time. "I feel great, and really appreciate the people of Canby for coming out to vote - we had one of the highest voter turnouts we've had," Prince said the day after his election.

"We kept a positive campaign, and I think the citizens of Canby appreciated that . . . I look forward to working with the new council, and I do promise this administration will listen to people, especially as far as land use goes."

Taylor, the assistant director of the Oregon Department of Corrections and a 36-year corrections veteran, had been the city's mayor for eight years, and was previously a city councilor from 1982-92.

The two experienced politicians had disagreed on numerous issues, policies and approaches in recent years, perhaps most apparently on the Urban Renewal District's creation and on the defeated 301-acre annexation ballot measure in the past 12 months. Taylor wished Prince good luck in his future stewardship of the city at his final council meeting in charge Dec. 20.

Also elected Nov. 7 was Councilor Randy Carson, while Paul Dawson, Roger Harris, and Barry Lucas failed to win seats in the six-person contest.

Combined, Taylor, Harris and Lucas had 29 years of experience on the council, including 18 years for Taylor alone. Harris was re-elected to the Canby Budget Committee by the council after the Nov. 7 election.

Voters approve school bond request

After a year of door-to-door campaigns, telephone calls and posting lawn signs, the Canby School District's $30.8 maintenance bond passed May 16.

The voter turnout reached critical mass Tuesday evening, with 56.3 percent of registered voters mailing in ballots. The measure received support from 59.4 percent of those voters.

"We are absolutely thrilled," said Darcy Rourk, assistant superintendent of the Canby School District. "I was a little worried Tuesday morning, when we were only up to 41 percent (voter turnout).

''The numbers were creeping slowly, but I was hopeful all along. A lot of people are smiling now."

Under the state's "double majority" rule, local tax increases must be approved by more than 50 percent of registered voters. The statewide requirement is a result of Measure 50, which voters approved in 1997.

Community volunteers worked until the 8 p.m. ballot deadline to generate votes and, on the day of the election, volunteers were still calling people and picking up people's ballots.

"I'm very proud of the community and staff," Canby Schools Superintendent Deborah Sommer said.

The $30.8 million bond will allow the district to repair and maintain school buildings. Projects include the replacement of roofs and heating/ventilation systems, along with a host of other itemized building needs.

The bond money also will cover the purchase of about 20 acres of land to build a new middle school.

A new middle school will allow Ackerman Middle School's Lee campus to reopen as an elementary school. The Lee building is now being used as part of the middle school, due to overcrowding at Ackerman.

The 20-year bond is expected to cost homeowners $1.35 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. That means the owner of a $150,000 home will pay an additional $202.50 a year, or nearly $17 per month.

Two-thirds of citizens who cast ballots voted to turn down the city-sponsored bid to enlarge the Logging Road Industrial Park on the Sept. 19 special election ballot.

The proposed annexation of 301 acres of farmland into the southeast portion of the city for anticipated future commercial and industrial development was rejected by 67 percent of voters - a 28 percent higher No vote than in any of the previous nine annexation elections. Only 41 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.

In a separate election, as required by the state, 23 residents of the Industrial Area Association land proposed to be annexed voted Yes, and three voted No. The IAA consists of property owners and farming families whose land was proposed to be annexed en masse.

Some citizens felt it was a sign people are worried about the impact of swift industrial and commercial growth, some felt it came down to concerns about fire coverage, and some felt the Urban Renewal District and annexation were inseparably linked issues, and that the URD's creation should have required voter approval, too.

During the summer, the Canby City Council had voted 4-1 to put the 301-acre annexation question to the voters, with Councilor Terry Prince voting against. The Canby Planning Committee had unanimously recommended to the council that the annexation should not proceed because members believed it did not meet two of 10 key planning criteria.

Canby Fire Chief Ted Kunze argued the fire board was opposed to the council's creation of the URD in fall 1999, and did not support the annexation.

Kunze said the fire district opposed the $51 million URD plan's tax-increment financing mechanism - which captures taxes on rising property values resulting from new construction in the URD during its 20-year lifespan and uses it for infrastructure and other projects in the URD - because it drained significant funding away from the fire district.

Under the URD, taxing jurisdictions, including the fire district, the city, the county, the school district, the community college and the Port of Portland, share property taxes from assessments within the URD only from existing property values before the URD was formed.

The fire district had long expressed concerns about its ability to provide adequate coverage in a large industrial area, and wanted to ensure it could legally receive and use URD funds to purchase special equipment.

Negotiations to devise a legal way to reserve or redirect the 9.6 percent of URD revenues the fire district would forgo under tax-increment financing were held at joint council-fire board workshops, but no binding deal was forged.

The annexation's defeat was a setback for the mayor and council's plans to enlarge the proposed three-phase industrial park.

After the election, Prince said the Urban Renewal District should now be "significantly downsized" to stop the fire district losing tax revenues during its 20-year life, and he proposed the URD document should be put to a referendum of the people.

"I believe voters want a choice about what goes in the industrial area - just like they had with Fred Meyer," he said.

The Sept. 19 vote represented the first annexation measure to be defeated under the voter-approved system, which voters endorsed instituting in November 1997. The previous nine annexation measures were approved by voters, starting with the 31-acre Canby Fred Meyer annexation in March 1998.

A new retail era dawned in Canby on Feb. 16.

On land that for centuries had been planted, plowed and picked, shoppers now drive, park and shop.

After months of planning and building, Fred Meyer, a shopping institution in Oregon and a part of Kroger, one of the largest grocery food chains in the nation, swung open the doors to its 165,000-square-foot local superstore.

When it opened, company officials said the $21 million Fred Meyer store was stocked with 225,000 products worth $4.5 million. Among the store's features is a Playlands area, which allows parents to leave their children with CPR-trained store employees while they shop.

In the months since it opened, many Canby residents have made the drive to the northside of town to shop at Freddy's and the other stores in the new Canby Market Center, affecting takings at downtown and other local businesses as retailers have sought ways to compete with the giant regional retailer.

The first Fred Meyer store was established by Fred G. Meyer in Portland in 1922, and the Canby store became the chain's 142nd multi-department store in six western states.

Elsewhere in the Canby Market Center, about a dozen other stores opened before and after Fred Meyer, but some units remain empty in the Gramor development.

The state-mandated Periodic Review process, plus numerous downtown Canby rejuvenation efforts, kept Canby planners, city officials, agency staffs, and volunteer panel members busy throughout the year.

The goal of creating a vibrant and viable mixed-use downtown district, brimming with stores, restaurants and shoppers, was at the core of many efforts, and in 2001 the hard decisions regarding money and marketing will need to be made by stakeholders in Canby.

Mary Bosch of Marketek, the city's contracted consultant, compiled a Canby Market Assessment survey in November and offered initial marketing strategies, based on her research and suggestions made by about 100 members of the public during six workshops held at the old Mangus Variety Store during the summer.

Bosch reported Canby's competitive advantages include: a growing market area and target markets that visible, but removed, from Highway 99E; several strong, large traffic-generating stores, and institutional anchors; significant investment and business growth; adjacent residential neighborhoods; an established Economic Improvement District; committed and positive business owners; and a walkable, friendly and green downtown.

The city's competitive disadvantages include: many blocks and many buildings are not conducive to retail; absence of critical mass of retail stores; a lack of a clear market identity; and a limited selection and limited store hours.

Opportunities suggested were retail niche/cluster expansion and promotion, development of vacant properties, in-fill lots with mixed-use development, and cross-marketing with area visitor attractions. Challenges observed were commercial expansion near 99E, the need to serve multiple target markets (residents, workers, visitors, seniors), property owner expectations, and unclear roles and responsibilities related to downtown marketing/business redevelopment among stakeholders.

Business opportunities outlined included specialty retailers, restaurants, a movie theater, and live entertainment at a restaurant, coffee house or microbrewery. Bosch, who surveyed 50 businesses and spoke with about 80 residents, suggested promoting downtown's image as a place to work, shop, live and play.

Specific images, such as a farming-railroad theme for signage and advertising proposed by Canby Business Revitalization, are seen as good promotional themes. Bosch said key players - the CBR, the Canby Area Chamber of Commerce, city staff, and downtown merchants - must agree on roles and responsibilities during the upcoming "action plan" stage.

During the year, the state Transportation Growth Management program awarded Canby's downtown project an $85,000 grant, with a $9,000 city match, and the state Department of Land Conservation and Development gave $15,000 to study downtown parking issues. The Mount Hood Economic Alliance is providing a $34,000 grant for downtown facade improvements, such as awnings, painted window treatments, and landscaping, and the CBR is putting up $17,000.

Families began applying to move into 25 apartment units at the new Casa Verde subdivision in Canby for low-income local farmworkers and their families in May.

And the first families lucky enough to be accepted into the Catholic Charities-owned apartment complex on Township Road began moving into their new homes the first week in June. Workers from Seabold Construction Co. of Beaverton completed the two-story townhouses featuring two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments, plus a community center and parking lots, shortly before the tenants began arriving. Heriberto Aguilar of Canby was chosen to be the manager of the "Green House," and he recently worked for St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Canby, and formerly worked as a foreman at nurseries in the area.

A ribbon-cutting and grand opening ceremony was held with Catholic Charities Executive Director Dennis Keenan as master of ceremonies, and the Archbishop of Portland John G. Vlazny was among the dignataries in attendance.

Catholic Charities did not receive approval from the city's Planning Commission to proceed with another project in Canby for area farmworkers, the Redwood Motel. Both projects had garnered vocal support and opposition from nearby residents and other community members during the lengthy planning process.

As the new shopping center on the northside of Canby began to fill up with new tenants last spring, the shopping center on the southside of town began to empty.

Roth's Family Food Market, a local supermarket of 19 years standing in the community, bowed out of the Canby Square retail scene last spring.

Roth's management cited increased local competition from the new Fred Meyer superstore in the Canby Market Center and the revamped and upgraded Cutsforth's Thriftway. The company chose not to spend the $1 million it estimated was needed to refurbish and expand its Canby Square store. "It's tough for all of us and our company to let the store go," said longtime Roth's store manager Curt Froemke.

In the eight months since Roth's closed, a new tenant for the large unit has yet to be attracted, and some other businesses, including Cascade Ace Hardware, have closed or relocated from Canby Square.

It began three years ago as an idea talked about by enthused teen-agers at an informal meeting at the Canby Public Library, but finally the Canby Skate Park turned from blueprint plans into a concrete reality Sept. 30.

In-line skaters and skateboarders used the three-bowled concrete park extensively before and after the official opening, proving that if you build it, they will come.

Food and clothing booths and a sound system were set up for the opening, and a three-hour free skate for all youngsters started at 10 a.m. at the Northwest Third Avenue site.

Canby officials, including Mayor Scott Taylor, Councilor Barry Lucas, and Parks and Recreation Director Beth Saul, were on hand for the dedication, local bands performed, and the Canby Police Department hosted a safety clinic, and gave out about 100 free helmets.

Prior to the skate park's opening, complaints were growing about the damage skaters inflicted on handrails and benches at Wait Park, among other sites around town. Colissions with seniors had also been reported.

At least one serious accident has been reported at the skate park, when a boy fractured his skull after falling from a BMX bike. Police report other less serious accidents have also occurred at the site.

Pure-Seed Testing Inc., a research division of Turf Seed Inc., was the target of a surprise nighttime attack by a group calling itself the Anarchist Golfers Association, the first reported biotechnology sabotage incident in Oregon.

No one was hurt, but a nursery worker discovered that pots containing some rare experimental and ornamental grasses were knocked over and destroyed, and identification tags were tossed around.

In all, about 200 pots of special grasses from around the globe were dumped out, cut down or stepped upon in two greenhouses. Grasses growing on a 110-acre research site affiliated with the South Zimmerman Road company were also knocked over and stomped on sometime between 9:30 p.m. June 4 and 6 a.m. June 5.

The saboteurs also damaged a nearby field, and sprayed anti-biotechnology graffiti on greenhouses and other property. The saboteurs, who have not been identified or caught by law enforcement, left golf balls with the anarchist symbol as calling cards. Total damage was initially estimated at between $300,000 and $500,000. Company President Bill Rose said AGA accepted responsibility for the attack by e-mail.

The AGA apparently targeted the business because it grows creeping bentgrass, a type of genetically engineered and herbicide-resistent grass used on golf courses greens, but Pure-Seed management contend the AGA hit the wrong business for the wrong reasons.

"They destroyed decades worth of work," said Crystal Fricker, Pure-Seed's director of research, told reporters. "They say biotechnology work is killing the planet . . . but what we're researching could actually result in people using less pesticides in the future."

Volunteers took the initiative as Aurora began building its new sewer plant, a major part of the new city's $4 million sewer collection and treatment system.

Patricia Heid, a coordinator for volunteers, said dozens of people got involved, and their donated labor is expected to shave $200,000 off the construction bill.

Heid said the city learned about the "self-help" method from other cities and states where citizens have helped on costly public projects.

Work that requires professional skill, such as electrical work, is being handled by certified professionals, but volunteers have built fences, and completed numerous projects.

The treatment plant will cover 14 acres and will include lagoons designed to break down sewage naturally. From the lagoons, liquid will go to a holding pond capable of storing seven million gallons.

From there, it will be chlorinated to remove all microbes, and will then used to irrigate a poplar tree plantation. In winter, when stream levels are high, the decontaminated flow will be returned to the waterways.

The plant is scheduled to be finished in early 2001, with the lagoons ready to start functioning by early spring.