Vote due on deal for brewing facility

It takes a lot of water to brew beer - and that means a lot of water flowing through a municipal wastewater system.

Three Creeks Brewing Co. is planning to expand its brewing capacity for the retail market, and to do that in Sisters, they need a break on sewer rates.

The Sisters City Council is set to vote on Thursday on a proposal to grant Three Creeks Brewing Co. a permanent 30 percent reduction in sewer rates, with an annual cap of $10,000. The reduced rates would match the sewer rates available in Redmond, which would be the alternate location for the brewing facility.

"The rate reduction allows us to be competitive in our utilities (with other breweries)," said Three Creeks Brewing Co. owner Wade Underwood.

Underwood noted that there has been an "explosion" of breweries in Central Oregon.

"I am very closely watching our ability to compete," he said.

The proposed brewery would be built in phases on industrial land and would employ three to five people in its first phase, Underwood said. Ultimately, the facility could employ 20 or more, depending on the development of the product mix. The first phase, with a plant of 8,000 to 10,000 square feet, will produce 3,000 barrels annually.

"This is a 100 percent export facility," Underwood said. "It's a production facility to send beer out of Sisters to wherever the market takes us."

The council decision on Thursday is a key step in the process, but not the final one, Underwood noted.

"It's one more piece of the puzzle," he said. "We still have land to close on and banks to finance us."

The proposed brewing facility would lie within the enterprise zone Sisters shares with Redmond, which offers incentives including three years' exemption from property taxes. Sisters' land costs are still generally higher than Redmond's; systems development charges are lower and the proposed deal brings sewer rates into parity.

Sewer rates for Sisters businesses are calculated based on usage in the first three months of the year, not on peak usage.

According to Sisters Economic Development Director Mac Hay, the subsidy is necessary if Sisters is to land the industrial park brewery and the jobs and tax revenue it represents. Hay believes the city should establish an overall industrial sewer rate based on the current proposal.

"It gives us a competitive edge in our region," he said. "That's the one thing the city council has control over. They don't have control over land costs or anything else - but they do have control over sewer rates."

Councilor David Asson concurred that consideration of a broader industrial sewer rate policy is warranted, but noted that time constraints made addressing the issue as it applies to Three Creeks Brewing Co. the immediate priority.

Councilor Sharlene Weed told The Nugget that she believes that "the city should do something to help them (Three Creeks) stay in the city of Sisters." She said she has reservations about the permanence of the deal; she would prefer that there be a sunset on the subsidy.

Underwood praised the work of city staff in determining whether such a facility is workable given the impacts on the municipal wastewater system.

"The city's been great to work with," he said.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

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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