News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Water and sewer systems will grow as the City of Sisters grows. The city council has calculated what charges should be assessed developers to pay for the growth.
In its Thursday, January 13, meeting, the council reviewed systems development charges (SDCs) for water and sewer systems. If the charges are adopted, new development will pay $2,867 per "equivalent dwelling unit" (EDU) for water and $2,994 per EDU for sewer.
A single family residence is considered one EDU. A business such as a restaurant or a Laundromat or a motel would be charged for multiple EDU use.
The council will hold a public hearing on the SDCs on February 10.
The charges drew fire from developer Ted Eady, who argued that the method of calculation is not "equitable" and goes against the city charter. Eady testified that the charter requires developers pay "an equitable share of projected capital improvements required to increase the capacity of improvements associated with new development."
Eady argued that some proposed water system improvements, such as a second water line from the city reservoir, benefit existing users and future develop- ment. Such improvements, Eady argued, are outside the costs "associated with new development."
Engineer Dick Nored acknowledged that a new water line would benefit all water users in the event of a disaster that cut the city's only water line from the reservoir.
"Part of the master plan is running another line out to the reservoir so that we have dual reliability," Nored said. "If we're going to handle the needs of growth, basically doubling the size of the town, there's certainly going to be some improvements."
Eady acknowledged that charging SDCs for such improvements is allowable under state law, but the city's charter is more restrictive. That restrictive language may have been an unintended consequence of the charter amendment passed by Sisters voters two years ago, which requires that SDCs be set at the maximum level allowed by state law.
However, city attorney Steve Bryant said the proposed SDCs are "sound and defensible." He disagreed with Eady's contention that the charter is more restrictive than state law.
Eady also questioned whether the city actually needs larger water systems, since the city, according to Eady's calculations, pumped some 260 million gallons a year through a leaky, unmetered system in 1987 and cut that back in 1996 through metering and fixing pipes to 124 million gallons a year.
That, according to Eady, is evidence that the system is far from reaching capacity.
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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