Smoke Signals
long awaited convenience store will open in November
Tribal considerations and county road designation have finally come together.
MARCH 1, 2003
By Ron Karten
By late November of this year, the
Tribe will open a new 4,500 to 4,600
square foot convenience store and gas
station. The project, expected to pro
vide 12 new jobs, will be located on
casino property -along Highway 18
where the valet parking lot is cur
rently located.
..The facility will feature a quick
serve restaurant, self-serve delicatessen-style
foods, more than typical convenience-store
fare and a 12-pump gas
station. Diesel, propane and an air
and water station will be available on
site.
"The Tribe's objective," said Larry
Kovach, Finance Officer for the Tribe
and general manager of the project,
"is to provide a marriage of economic
development and community develop
ment and this is one piece of that."
Adjacent to the store, the Tribe will
construct new parking for both cars
and recreational vehicles. An RV
dump also is planned and a new loca
tion for valet parking is currently be
ing discussed.
The project, which has been under
consideration for more than five years,
finally came together when Polk
County legalized Murphy Road for
public use. Following a public com
ment period, the Tribe agreed to dedi
cate an additional 20-foot strip to pro
vide the minimum standard 40-foot
right of way necessary for a public
roadway.
"It's been a long time in getting here '
but it will definitely benefit the com
munity and the Tribe," said Tribal
Council member Bob Haller.
"Anything that starts to diversify
the Tribe's economic base is a good
endeavor," said Chris Leno, Deputy
Director of Operations for the Tribe.
It took "several iterations" to get to
the point where we are now nearing
completion of the preliminary design,"
said Eric Scott, the Tribe's Engineer,
who is coordinating design and con
struction of the project.
Design considerations included the
size and configuration of the structure,
the number of pumps, the layout of
the fuel services, as well as highway
access and traffic circulation issues,
according to Scott.
The Tribal Council recently estab
lished a new corporation - The Grand
Ronde Food and Fuel Company - to
run the facility.
Traffic traveling east will have a
simple off-ramp to the facility. The
same divided ramp will be used to get
back onto Highway 18 going east.
Traffic going west to the coast will use
the current cloverleaf under the high
way to access the convenience store.
According to Scott, within 10 years,
the Oregon Department of Transpor
tation is expected to build an inter
change here.
Early studies considered alterna
tives to minimize impact to wetlands
and considerations were made with re
spect to anticipated future highway
improvements.
"The design of the convenience store
will incorporate a stucco-type finish
with similar geometric designs as that
used on the casino," said Scott.
Scott said PNE Corporation, with
offices in Portland and Longview,
Washington, will build the $2.5 to 3
million project. PNE, a design-build
contractor specializing in gas station
construction, has built hundreds
across the northwest.
Location, Location,
Location The new
Tribal convenience store and
gas station will be built just
east of Spirit Mountain Ca
sino, where the valet park
ing is now located. Target
date for opening the new gas
and food store is late Novem
ber of this year.
. 'WW.""".
Civil engineer for the project is
Westlake Consultants, based in
Tigard. Other consultants include
traffic engineers, environmental and
wetlands scientists, archaeologists and
soils engineers.
Construction is set to start in mid
summer with the facility operational
by the end of the year.
Like the casino, the convenience
store and gas station will be open 24
hours a day, seven days a week.
From the casino's point of view, "the
addition of the convenience store means
we can offer more to our customers'
said Adam Henny, Director of Mar
keting for the Casino. "I look forward
to setting up some exciting offerings
for our Coyote Club members and our
casino guests."
Tribal Council has assembled an
'owner's design team,' to "facilitate
decisions regarding the physical de
sign and operational aspects of the
project," said Scott. The design team
will include representatives from
Spirit Mountain Gaming Corporation,
the facilities staff, Tribal engineers,
the finance office and legal support.
Blockbuster Project Coming to a Sewer Near You, Soon
The local systems are at capacity but timely planning and quality workmanship will keep it flowing.
By Ron Karten
The report titles have no punch and
there is nothing glamorous about the
finished product, but very little in the
public domain is more important to our
sense of security and calm than a
smooth running sewer system.
Yes, the Grand Ronde Sanitary
District's Waste Water Facilities Plan
is about to be released, and Smoke
Signals has had an advance report. In
a nutshell, it will conclude, according
to Tribal Engineer Eric Scott, that lo
cal facilities are at capacity and new
projects are needed to keep the efflu
ent flowing through the year 2027.
The Plan will provide a detailed
"needs analysis," said Scott, and a dis
cussion of alternative possibilities to
meet those needs. Among the infor
mation the Plan will release are popu
lation projections leading to flow cal
culations, leading to hydraulic capac
ity analysis (how big the pipes need to
be), along with an assessment of cur
rent and future regulatory require
ments. Among the anticipated conclusions:
immediate capacity improvements are
needed on the Grand Ronde Road main
line from the wastewater treatment
plant to Highway 22, a total of nearly
8,000 feet.
In conjunction with this project, the
Tribe recently received an Indian Com
munity Development Block Grant for
the design and construction of the
main line improvements. Specifically,
County, the Grand Ronde Sanitation
District and Indian Health Services.
The first increased capacity of the
main line by decreasing extraneous
flows into the system through leaks
and abandoned septic tanks. The work
In a nutshell, it (Grand Ronde Sanitary
District's Waste Water Facilities Plan) will
conclude that local facilities are at capac
ity and new projects are needed to keep the
effluent flowing through the year 2027.
the grant funds replacement of six-inch
pipe with 532 feet of 15-inch pipe, 4,724
feet of 12-inch pipe, and 2,670 feet of
8-inch pipe.
Scott will solicit bids from qualified
engineers to prepare detailed designs
starting last month. Selection of an
engineer will take place in mid-March.
Design will be completed by mid to late
summer with construction beginning
in 2004, said Scott.
In conjunction with this project, the
Tribe has recently completed two re
lated projects in cooperation with the
Tribal Housing Authority, Polk
included backfilling several such tanks,
and capping the laterals still connected
to the system. The project also in
cluded retrofitting active septic tanks
which were deficient and repairing
broken sewer laterals connecting them
to the system.
The second project involved repair
ing pipes running under the South
Yamhill and Rock Creek bridge cross
ings. The pipes, which normally use
gravity to carry sewage across the
river to the treatment plant, had bent
over time impeding the process. Re
pairs solved the problem, said Scott.
The Plan also will call for "signifi
cant improvements" in the wastewa
ter treatment plant, built in 1985, ac
cording to Scott.
Five proposed alternatives for treat
ing waste in coming years will be pro
posed costing anywhere from $3.2 to
$6 million. They include lagoon, filter
and biological treatment systems.
Other necessary improvements will
provide effluent disposal capabilities
with an emphasis on reclamation and
reuse. This part of the project
which seeks to dispose of the treated
waste water on land rather than di
rectly into the South Yamhill is at
tractive because it makes a significant
amount of water available for second
ary uses, including irrigation. The
project has a potential $300,000 price
tag, though the Tribe has received an
offsetting grant to conduct soils evalu
ations, identify possible sites and de
velop re-use plans.
Grand Ronde Sanitary District en
gineer is Whitaker Engineering, Inc.
based in Independence, Oregon. Ex
cept the work already completed by the
Tribe, all of these projects will be open
for public discussion and input.
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