News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sewer lines could go in as early as February and some users could be hooked up by summer, according to Dick Nored of HGE, Inc., the engineering firm that is designing Sisters' sewer system.
According to Nored and public works director Gary Frazee, a main trunk line down Adams Street and another line along Jefferson Avenue could be laid early this spring.
According to city officials, The Pines development and Pine Meadow Ranch Development Company plan to pay systems development charges in advance to start the project. The developers would then pay for a temporary pump station to pump effluent out to the treatment facility south of Sisters.
According to Nored, the developments could go on-line next summer, assuming that the City of Sisters is able to acquire the land for the treatment facility by then.
The city is negotiating for a transfer of the property at no cost through an act of Congress, but has the go-ahead to purchase the land from the U.S. Forest Service if legislative action fails.
Effluent could be pumped to a temporary lagoon as soon as the lines are laid.
"I've got approval to do a temporary lagoon (from the Department of Environmental Quality)," Nored told The Nugget. "If we really had a push to get it done, we could do a temporary pond."
Frazee told The Nugget that The Pines may wait until the sewer is in to hook houses up for waste disposal, to avoid the expense of installing a temporary drainfield.
However, developer Eldon Howard told The Nugget that he has permits for a drainfield and can go forward if it takes longer than expected to install sewer connections.
Frazee told the management of Mountain Shadow RV Park to hold off on building a road connection between The Pines and Highway 20.
Construction of a portion of that road was required in the RV park site plan and was to be completed by the end of August. A sewer line is to be laid in that road bed.
"I didn't want them to put that road in and then next spring come in and tear it up," Frazee said.
Commercial users in the downtown core area will be the first to hook up to the system once the project is underway.
According to Mayor Steve Wilson, the commercial area will hook up first because the sewer grant funding is based on an emergency hardship grant for economic development.
Residential neighborhoods will hook up in phases as the project moves forward.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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