S ERVING THE S ILVERTON A REA S INCE 1880
50 C ENTS
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A U NIQUE E DITION OF THE S TATESMAN J OURNAL
V OL . 135, N O . 26
W EDNESDAY , J UNE 15, 2016
SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
Sewer system plan irking neighbors
CHRISTENA BROOKS
SPECIAL TO THE APPEAL TRIBUNE
A Silverton family’s plan to
develop a 21st-century com-
mune on their property atop the
steep hill near East Main Street
and Steelhammer Road has
sparked outcry from some
neighbors.
But kibbutz-style living
wasn’t the focus of their dismay
at the Silverton City Council’s
meeting on June 6. Rather, it
was developers Mike and Lisa
Leslie’s petition to privately pay
to connect their property on the
hill to the municipal sewer sys-
tem, which will eventually
force some neighbors to pay to
connect to the system.
About 30 homes on the hill
use septic systems, with at least
10 being close enough to the pro-
posed sewer lines to require to
them to connect if their septics
fail.
“I think the co-housing thing
is a great thing. I’m for that. We
just don’t know what the cost to
us is going to be,” said neighbor
Frank Petrik. “My wife and I
never would have made the of-
fer on our home if we’d known
we’d have to incur this cost.”
“Why should we incur this
cost, if they’re the ones benefit-
ting from this, not us?” asked
another
neighbor,
Brenda
Wallsinger.
The
council
meeting
stretched past 10 p.m. before
councilors voted 6-1 to let the
project move forward. Kyle
Palmer was the lone dissenting
vote.
“Why should we incur this cost, if they’re the
ones benefitting from this, not us?”
BRENDA WALLSINGER
NEIGHBOR
Adding to the evening’s dra-
ma, some neighbors asked
councilor Dana Smith to abstain
from voting due to a conflict of
interest.
Smith later explained that
she’s a member of the Silverton
group interested in communal
living – likely, but not certainly –
on the Leslies’ property. She and
four others have committed
$1,000 apiece to a separate lim-
ited liability company, Evans
Oaks LLC.
“We haven’t even committed
to buying that property yet,”
Smith said. “In the past, I chose
to recuse myself from discus-
sions that directly affected only
that property, but this sewer
project is going to affect the
whole hillside.”
The project is set to bring
sewers to the largest septic-
only neighborhood in Silverton,
said City Manager Bob Wil-
loughby. Currently, the main
line under Steelhammer ends
just north of its intersection
with East Main.
The Leslies plan to pay to ex-
tend 8-inch PVC pipe up to the
intersection, partway down
East Main, through an easement
on their property, and on to Re-
serve Street. Estimated cost is
$120 per foot, but the project
hasn’t been put out to bid yet.
“Ultimately, we want sewer
in Silverton,” Lisa Leslie said.
“Our family is going to pay for
sewer in our neighborhood.
We’ve been working on this for
two years with the city.”
Neighbors operating on sep-
tic under a special exception
will soon live within 300 feet of a
sewer hookup and thus be re-
quired to connect when their
systems fail.
“In the code, septic tanks are
See COMMUNE, Page 4A
Band back on track
STATESMAN JOURNAL FILE
Silverton Hills Strawberry Festival
will be serving free strawberries
and ice cream beginning 11 a.m.
Sunday.
PHOTOS BY SHELDON TRAVER/MID-VALLEY COMMUNICATIONS
The Silverton High School Marching Band and Dance Team perform in the Starlight Parade in Portland on June 4.
Silverton
berry fest
has free
desserts
CARLEE WRIGHT
Silverton
in parade
STATESMAN JOURNAL
If strawberries, shortcake
and ice cream is not enticing
enough, how about if they are
free?
The Silverton Hills Straw-
berry Festival will have just
that this year thanks to the
generosity
of
Silverton
Health.
Wanting to do something
special for the community, the
Silverton Health governing
board decided to treat the
town. Each visitor to the festi-
val will receive a free straw-
berry dessert starting at 11
PORTLAND – Silverton High
School’s reinstituted marching band
ended its second year by performing for
a crowd of 350,000.
On June 4, the band marched in the
2.5-mile Starlight Parade and earned
second place in the parade’s marching
band category. The Foxes’ dance team
led the band with choreography match-
ing the music and helped people get into
the groove of Prince’s “1999” and the
school’s fight song.
This year, the Starlight Parade cele-
brated its 40 th year in Portland with
nearly 100 entries, continuing a festival
tradition that began in the early 1900s
when illuminated floats on trolley cars
made their way through cities. It’s one
of the highlights of the Rose Festival,
which wrapped up June 12.
The parade was televised live on
KPTV Fox 12, giving Silverton exposure
throughout the station’s viewership
region. The second-place finish guaran-
See BERRY, Page 6A
STATESMAN JOURNAL FILE
See SILVERTON BAND, Page 6A
Silverton High School Marching Band members cool off on the bus before the Starlight Parade.
Hang in the forest
at Garden Brewfest
CARLEE WRIGHT
STATESMAN JOURNAL
Kick back with a cold
one amid a grove of tower-
ing evergreens. The Ore-
gon Garden Brewfest is
embracing its natural side
and relocating from a tra-
ditional indoor setting to
the forest of the garden.
“We have really out-
grown the building that
has hosted the event for
the last 11 years,” Region-
al Marketing Manager Sa-
ra Hammond said. “Last
year we changed our
dates from April to June
so that attendees could ex-
perience the garden in
full bloom, and we wanted
to continue that focus on
our unique and gorgeous
venue.”
When deciding on a
new location, the Redis-
covery Forest was an ob-
vious choice, Hammond
said.
“The forest is such a
beautiful setting, and it’s
insulated from weather,”
she said. “When it’s hot,
the forest remains cool
and shaded. When it’s
rainy and windy, the trees
block a good portion of the
See BREWFEST, Page 2A
Online at
Silverton
Appeal.com
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PHOTOS
» Photo galleries
Silverton Hills Strawberry Festival
is Sunday.
INSIDE
Births ......................................3B
Briefs......................................2A
Calendar ...............................2A
Classifieds..............................3B
Engagements.......................3B
Life..........................................6A
Obituaries .............................3B
Police logs .............................3B
Sports......................................1B
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