News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Local hikers, bikers and nature lovers are lobbying to keep a trail that runs through the area slated for Sisters' sewage treatment facility.
At a town hall meeting Tuesday, January 25, a citizens' committee that has been reviewing options for effluent disposal took testimony from the public on whether the city should acquire 240 acres or 160 acres of land known as Section 9 from the U.S. Forest Service.
Brad Boyd, owner of Eurosports and a Sisters resident, urged the committee to recommend taking only 160 acres. That would leave a mountain biking trail that runs from the edge of the city to Peterson Ridge undisturbed.
"I trust the Forest Service to manage that bike path and keep it open to the public much more so than I do the city," Boyd said. "My concern is, number one, keeping that open. It's nice to have trails available that you don't have to drive to. Bend used to have that; Bend doesn't have that anymore."
Other residents affirmed the importance of the trail and committee members agreed.
"It was never the intent of this committee that that pathway should ever be vacated," said committee member Vicki Patterson.
According to sewer engineer Dick Nored, the area where the trail runs will probably be left alone for 10 to 15 years, until the city's growth requires spraying the full acreage. At that time, the trail could be buffered or rerouted to avoid effluent spraying areas.
Some citizens, and members of the committee, argued for raising the quality of effluent produced by the treatment plant. A higher quality of effluent would allow the city to pursue other options such as a golf course and lessen the need for fencing to keep people away from sprayed areas.
However, producing a higher level of effluent is more expensive than producing the Level I-enhanced (Level I +) effluent the city's Department of Environmental Quality permit allows. HGE Engineering, Inc. designed the treatment plant and budgeted around the Level I + permit.
According to HGE figures, going to Level II would require screens and chlorine piping at an initial cost of $300,000 to $350,000. Operation and maintenance costs are estimated to rise by about $3,000 per year.
Those costs would increase monthly rates by $2 per month per equivalent dwelling unit, pushing rates above the $39/EDU/month rate promised by the city before the Sewer bond election.
Producing Level II + effluent would add an additional $5,000 in laboratory costs and raise the monthly rate by $2.60, according to HGE.
The city is currently short $3 million to complete the sewer project.
Wildlife birding guide Stephen Shunk testified that there are many steps that can be taken to make the area suitable for birding and other wildlife viewing activities.
The committee concluded that creating a full-scale wildlife sanctuary with lined wetlands ponds would cost $2.5 million and require an additional 20 acres for effluent evaporation.
Shunk said there are compromise alternatives such as adding a second levy to access the holding ponds site and creating viewing platforms that would not be expensive.
According to facilitator Ted Viramonte, the citizens' committee took the tight financial circumstances into consideration in its recommendation.
"These people feel very strongly about Level 2, but they understand the fiscal constraints," he said.
The committee's report to the city council argues that "creating such a plant (Level II) during initial construction will be less expensive than modifying the plant at a later time. The city could generate Level II + while finances are problematic..."
The report "strongly urges the city to construct the facility to be able to process at ... Level II ... and to begin processing the effluent at that level as soon as possible."
After the testimony, the committee voted 6-2 (one member was absent) to recommend that the city acquire the full 240 acres.
The two dissenting voters preferred acquiring 160 acres and using the effluent to grow pasture grass.
The Sisters City Council will begin reviewing the committee recommendations at a morning workshop on Thursday, February 3, at 8 a.m. The council is expected to decide on how to use the effluent within the next month.
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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