Did you know a 2nd, larger sewage pump station is planned to be built?

Did you know a 2nd, larger sewage pump station is planned to be built in the Vista Brook neighborhood?

Dear Community Resident:

We live in the Garden Home neighborhood in an unincorporated part of Washington County along the Fanno Creek Trail. In 2000, the City of Portland built a sewage pipeline in the neighborhood and a Sewage Treatment Pump Station directly adjacent to the Fanno Creek Trail at approximately 84th and Bohmann Parkway. The pump station is intended to process City of Portland sewage—it does not serve our neighborhood in which it is located.

Below is a link to an article that appeared in the Portland Tribune (April 8, 2008) about the development of the pipeline and pump station. It details the problems that have occurred as a result of the poor planning, faulty development/construction, and location of this pump station. Some of these problems resulted in damage to nearby homes and legal settlements.

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/print_story.php?story_id=120759941409519300

The City has recently decided to attempt to solve these problems by creating a second larger facility on the same site. It's being labeled an "expansion" by the City of Portland but the actual plans show that it is a separate facility nearly three times the size of the existing facility. The new plans propose easements of private property and a re-routing of an overflow channel of Fanno Creek into a federally designated flood zone.

Issues of great importance to this community in regard to the new facility are:

• DAMAGE TO THE PHYSICAL INTEGRITY OF OUR HOMES. Nearby homes were seriously damaged during the construction of the first facility and the same is expected as the result of the construction of the second, much larger facility. Construction is expected to take two years, with the resultant noise and disruption.
• ENVIRONMENTAL & FLOOD CONCERNS. Plans call for the extensive removal of trees, altering our ecosystem and landscape. The site is on a flood plane with nearby wetlands. There are plans for re-routing a natural overflow channel of the creek. There is a possibility that filtered sewage will go into the creek itself. The appearance of this section of the Fanno Creek Trail will be permanently altered as trees are removed to accommodate the facility and a parking lot.
• LACK OF CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT. Residents were not given the opportunity to become involved in the planning of this facility. With plans 30% complete, the large majority of the immediate neighborhood was completely unaware of the plans for this new facility. The Outreach Coordinator assigned to the project has not engaged the community in a way that is meaningful, fully disclosing or forthright.

Below is the link from the City of Portland with details about the construction of the second facility. You will note the plans for the new facility are outlined in only the most general terms, revealing little about the size or impact of the project:

http://www.portlandonline.com/BES/index.cfm?c=49285

A large group of concerned residents met with the Citizen Participation Organization #3 (CPO3) on September 17th. CPO3 reported that they were approached six months ago by the City of Portland to report on repairs to sewage pipeline serving the existing pump station, but there was no mention of a new facility being developed at that time.

THIS IS A VIBRANT RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD with 300+ active and engaged residents who are eager to participate in a planning dialogue but thus far only a few neighbors bordering the pump station property were contacted by the Department of Environmental Services.
Neighbors who have reached out to Department of Environmental Services been told that answers are forthcoming and that the project is still taking shape, but we want to be part of the process--before decisions are made that will significantly and permanently affect the neighborhood are made. Is it not possible to fix the existing facility? Have other locations or options been explored?

We have a meeting for concerned residents scheduled for Thursday, September 24th at 7p.m. at the Garden Home Recreation Center – Room 12.

Please attend this meeting to learn more about this critical neighborhood issue.

PLEASE BRING YOUR QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS. Please contact Jennifer Segerholt at jsegerholt@msn.com

or 503-841-6038 with any questions you may have.