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Allen sixth,
Lions 12th as a team at state,
page 1B
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015
SOUTH LANE COUNTY'S MOST AWARD-WINNING NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1889
VOLUME 126 • NUMBER 36
Council to weigh in
on crosswalk talk
O LD SCHOOL
Also
inside:
Many want a crossing at Jim Wright
and Row River, but regulations
prohibit its location at intersection
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
P
Woman's favorite
Cooking, entertaining
tips from an earlier
era, page 6A
photo by Jon Stinnett
Harrison Elementary Principal Ali Nice (far right) conducts a tour of a classroom at Harrison
Elementary School. Nice said an outdated HVAC system makes keeping the building comfort-
able a constant battle for maintenance personnel.
Bond Committee tours Harrison's troubles
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Learning on
Spring Break
Students spend the
week at InStove,
page 3A
Disclosure statement: Senti-
nel Editor Jon Stinnett is one of
nearly 40 community members
and district personnel serving on
the bond committee to explore the
possibility of a bond measure to
rebuild Harrison School.
O
ffi cials with South Lane
School District opened up
Harrison Elementary School to
a group of visitors last week, but
they weren’t invited to a special
event or to see a showcase of stu-
dent achievements.
Instead, Harrison Principal Ali
Nice and personnel from South
Lane School District’s mainte-
nance team led tours and spoke
of a school building that they say
has outlived its useful life in many
ways, a building the District hopes
to secure a bond levy to replace in
the near future.
In January, the South Lane
School Board green-lighted the
formation of a Bond Advisory
Committee consisting of about
40 community members, district
staff and school board representa-
tives to explore the possibility of a
bond that could be used to pay for a
new Harrison building, in addition
to other possible upgrades in the
District. The committee met twice
prior to last week, discussing the
potential costs of the new build-
ing (which would be built at the
site of the old Cottage Grove High
School) and the other potential
upgrades, a list of which includes
security and technology upgrades
throughout the District and a new
pool to replace the aging Warren H.
Daugherty Aquatic Center.
Superintendent Krista Parent told
the committee that the time may be
right to pursue a bond for Harrison
for a few reasons: the improving
economy and low interest rates fac-
tor in, and the interest rate on the
bond used to fi nance the construc-
tion of Cottage Grove High School
has been signifi cantly reduced.
That bond will end in 2017, and
Parent and others believe that the
District could potentially secure a
bond to build Harrison that would
not signifi cantly raise the property
tax rate paid by local taxpayers, a
bond that would continue where
the high school bond left off. Last
week, Parent said a 25-year bond
could potentially raise $29.8 mil-
lion. The District is looking to
place the bond before voters on the
May or November ballot for 2016.
The Bond Advisory Committee
is charged with providing a recom-
mendation to the School Board on
a possible bond at the Board’s May
4 meeting, and on Tuesday, Feb.
24, the Committee toured Harri-
son School to see its shortcomings
fi rsthand.
“I spend a lot of time talking
Please see HARRISON, Page 12A
lans for a proposed crosswalk that city offi cials
say has been sought by business leaders and oth-
ers in the community for a long time will appear before
the Cottage Grove City Council at its Monday, March 9
meeting.
The recent death of three children at a crosswalk in
Springfi eld, coupled with the death of a Cottage Grove
woman at the crosswalk at Highway 99 near the Village
Shopping Center last year, have brought crosswalk safe-
ty into the public eye recently, and members of the City
Council and Mayor Tom Munroe reiterated their concern
about crosswalk safety in this community at the Coun-
cil’s Feb. 23 meeting.
That night, the Council asked about updates on plans
to build a crosswalk at the intersection of Jim Wright
Way and Row River Road.
“For as long as I’ve been here, we’ve gotten calls about
putting a crosswalk at…that intersection,” said City En-
gineer Ron Bradsby. “We’d like to see it get done.”
The intersection, though, is under the jurisdiction of
the Oregon Department of Transportation, which has
strict guidelines governing where a crosswalk can be lo-
cated.
Bradsby said most people seem to want the crosswalk
right at the intersection, but ODOT regulations state
that, since there is no traffi c signal at the intersection,
the crosswalk would have to be located elsewhere, likely
south of the intersection itself. The new location would
put the crosswalk at the driveway to an undeveloped lot
that functions as a Christmas tree lot in December.
Visitors to Cottage Grove’s Aviation Museum often
cross Row River Road to get to the Village Green Re-
sort, and guests at the resort tend to cross the road to
visit the museum or see a play at the nearby Cottage The-
atre. Bradsby said almost everyone who crosses the road
in either direction does so at the intersection of the two
streets.
Traffi c studies have indicated that it may be 10 years
before development in the area makes a traffi c signal
at the intersection necessary, which could mean that a
crosswalk there is also many years from happening.
“We have to allow traffi c movements at the intersec-
tion,” Bradsby said. “Because there’s no signal there,
ODOT guidelines say to move it away.”
The intersection could be potentially dangerous,
Bradsby said, because a 35 mph speed limit on the street
Please see WALKS, Page 12A
Corps says new facilities aim to cut costs, promote sustainability
Vault toilets replace
plumbing at Lakeside
Park to cut costs
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Visitors to Lakeside Park at
Cottage Grove Lake will likely
notice recent changes to the fa-
cilities there, changes designed
to lower maintenance costs and
promote sustainability at the
park.
On Wednesday, Feb. 25, the
Army Corps of Engineers,
which manages Cottage Grove
and Dorena Reservoirs and the
parks that surround them, su-
pervised the installation of two
pre-fabricated vault toilets at
Lakeside Park to replace more
standard restroom facilities that
Corps offi cials say had been
photo by Jon Stinnett
The Army Corps of Engineers recently installed vault
toilets at Lakeside Park to replace aging restrooms there.
in use since they were built in
1981. A large crane was used to
lift the restrooms into place near
the former location of the old
facilities.
The Corps of Engineers’
Christie Johnson said the water
system previously used to oper-
ate the Lakeside restrooms uti-
lizes water from a tower across
the Lake near Shortridge Park,
water that then fl ows through
pipes under the nearby county
road and below the dam. The
water system itself is aging and
a source of constant mainte-
nance concerns, Johnson said.
Johnson acknowledged that
the move from running water to
vault toilets may not seem like
an upgrade to many park visi-
tors. She said that such changes
are also being undertaken at
other parks to lower mainte-
nance costs and provide for the
ongoing sustainability of parks
in the system.
“It’s part of a national effort
to try to foster a more sustain-
able recreation program,” John-
son said. “In recent years, Corps
of Engineers recreation budgets
have declined or remained the
same, while the cost of manag-
ing and maintaining facilities has
increased. Our recreation bud-
get usually covers basic mainte-
nance and operational costs, but
not the costs to improve, repair
or replace aging and deteriorat-
ing facilities. We are taking ad-
vantage of the NRAP (National
Recreation Adjustment Plan)
funding opportunity to replace
the restrooms now, instead of
waiting until there are major
problems that we cannot afford
to fi x.”
Johnson said the new rest-
rooms are easier to maintain,
promote less vandalism and of-
fer better access to park visitors
with disabilities. She said they’ll
likely need to be emptied at least
once and maybe twice per rec-
reation season. Similar restroom
facilities have already been in-
stalled at Dorena’s Schwarz
Park with NRAP funding.
The new moves also aim to
more closely align park facili-
ties with the amount of use they
receive, and the Corps is hoping
the new restrooms fi ll the need
at Lakeside Park while lowering
costs.
According to Johnson, a ma-
trix used to analyze park use and
cost “takes into account several
variables including number of
visitors, cost of operation and
maintenance, and whether or
not a fee is charged at the site.
If visitors are charged a fee, they
will have a higher expectation
for services and facilities. So in
considering whether or not vault
toilets are an appropriate facil-
ity for Lakeside Park, we took
into account that visitors are not
charged a fee to use Lakeside
Park unless they are launching
at the boat ramp.”
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Corner of Sixth and Whiteaker, Cottage Grove
In person
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