The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

• Construction has begun on the improvements to the foot bridge over Whychus Creek between Creekside Park and Creekside Campground. That path is closed to the public until construction is complete. When finished, the bridge will be completely ADA compliant and easier for people of all abilities to utilize. Cascade Civil Corp. of Redmond is doing the work and expects a 90-day build out. Ponderosa Forge and Ironworks of Sisters is fabricating the railing for the bridge approaches, to be installed by the City. The railing will be textured to look like wood.

• Work will be done this year on the sewer line that crosses the creek on the Locust Street bridge. It will be buried under the creek bed to avoid damage to the line caused by debris floating down the creek. Project coordinator Troy Rayburn wrote and submitted a grant to FEMA, which was awarded, for a 75 percent grant to fund the project. The project will go to bid in June and the project will be completed this summer.

• The in-creek and bank-restoration work slated to be done this summer at Creekside Park has been pushed back a year because of closure of the areas around the creek by the U.S. Forest Service due to last year’s fires and the work necessitated elsewhere. The estimated cost of the project is also a factor. The original estimate came in at $352,000 which has to be reduced using value engineering. In late summer-early fall 2021, the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, who is funding and doing the restoration work, will be working with an engineer to reduce the cost.

• Work is well under way on the City’s new comprehensive plan with both the Citizens Advisory Committee and the Strategic Advisory Committee meeting monthly. They are reviewing draft policies to meet state goals. They plan to do another community survey in the spring. Work will begin in March on an Urban Growth Boundary sufficiency report. It is hoped the updated comp plan will go to the planning commission for review and to the city council for adoption in late summer. It will then go the state for approval.

• Sisters City Council conducted their biannual goal-setting meeting last week, after reviewing their progress on this year’s goals at the Council meeting the night before. Councilors discussed each of the proposed goals of livability and growth, wildfire mitigation and community resiliency, economic development, essential infrastructure, good governance, and environmental sustainability.

Under each of the goals are objectives that support making tangible, identifiable progress. These goals are informed by the staff work plans and Council priorities and eventually culminate in the adoption of the City’s budget for FY 2021/22.