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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2015)
30 Wednesday, April 1, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon ROunDABOuT: ODOT is ready to start “Design Acceptance” Continued from page 1 of Transportation (ODOT) will meet within the next two weeks with freight industry representatives to seek formal concurrence with the design. That’s a critical step in getting to what ODOT calls “Design Acceptance.” At a workshop on Thursday, ODOT represen- tatives asked for the Sisters City Council’s concurrence as well. In a letter to the council, project leader Mike Darling said, “As we move toward Design Acceptance and ask you for concurrence/support of the proposed roundabout design, we want to make sure that the community and public in general is informed about the process which got us to this point, including direction previously set in a public context.” An extensive public pro- cess brought community con- sensus on the desirability of a roundabout — but that hap- pened several years ago, and for some people in Sisters the idea of a roundabout may be new, alien, and not necessar- ily welcome. Councilor David Asson expressed concern at Thursday’s workshop regard- ing public outreach. “I’m 99-percent sure you have the confidence of the Council,” Asson said. “It’s the community I’m con- cerned about … it’s as if they’ve never heard of this before. There are people who are very dubious — ‘why the hell are you doing this? Is it a done deal again?’” If a roundabout is a “done deal,” it was a deal done in 2011, with public input. The City of Sisters iden- tified a roundabout at the intersection of Highway 20 and Barclay Drive as a traf- fic-control option (a traffic signal being another) in its Transportation System Plan (TSP) adopted in January 2010. The TSP adoption had its own public-input process. The next year, the engi- neering firm Kittleson & Associates conducted a feasibility assessment of a roundabout. Community members par- ticipated in a workshop in November 2011 and deter- mined that a roundabout was the preferred alternative. Getting the roundabout identified in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan and getting the freight industry on board took several years. The freight industry wanted to test a design before Invasive garlic mustard found in eastern oregon photo by Jim Cornelius Barclay drive/Highway 20 will eventually be controlled by a roundabout. signing off on a roundabout. The tests were con- cluded on February 27 at the Deschutes County Fair- grounds and again at Portland Meadows on March 5. The roundabout is pro- jected to cost around $1.4 million, depending on right- of-way acquisition costs. “At this time, without clearly understanding what ODOT right-of-way costs are (they are using esti- mates), the City of Sisters will be required to contrib- ute $360,000, which is very much subject to change,” City Manager Andrew Gorayeb told The Nugget. “A por- tion of that contribution will be paid from transportation SDCs that have been paid related to the North Sisters Business Park. The balance will be paid by regular trans- portation SDCs.” North Sisters Business Park was assessed for future intersection improvements to mitigate the development’s traffic impacts when that development was approved by the City. ODOT is asking the Council to set an informa- tional public open house in early April, where they can present the design of the roundabout to the public, answer questions, and accept feedback. PENDLETON (AP) — Weed-control experts in Umatilla County are saying: “Hold the mustard!” County weed-control supervisor Dan Durfey tells the East Oregonian newspa- per that garlic mustard first appeared in Eastern Oregon several years ago atop Cabbage Hill. Now the inva- sive plant has spread to the Umatilla River all the way to the Oxbow site in Hermiston. Durfey says garlic mus- tard will eliminate small native plants. The plant has white flow- ers in April or May, but does not bloom for very long before going into seed pro- duction. He says it can be difficult to spot because it blends with other plants in wetter areas near trees. Durfey says the Oregon Weed Board aggressively targets garlic mustard, and he has received two grants to address the only known out- break in Eastern Oregon. SPAY & NEUTER Sponsorships Available Immunization Assistance Also Available at Bend Spay & Neuter’s Saturday Wellness Clinics Contact Kiki at 541-549-9941 Tax-deductible donations accepted year-round. FURRY FRIEND S FOUNDATION www.FurryFriendsFoundation.org 501 ( c )( 3 ) Furry Friends Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
