The State Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) has dismissed two appeals by Central Oregon Landwatch on the City’s Surface Water Project. Central Oregon Landwatch filed appeals on a City Council resolution in March 2012 reaffirming the decision to keep Bend’s dual water sources while modifying the project to reduce costs to ratepayers and an April 2012 City Council decision to amend a design and construction contract for the project.
LUBA agreed with the City’s response to the appeals and ruled that these Council actions are not final decisions on the Surface Water Project. Further, LUBA ruled that the Council decisions were not land use decisions at all as defined by Oregon law, and, therefore, Central Oregon Landwatch failed to meet its burden of establishing that LUBA has jurisdiction to consider the appeals.
About the Project
The Bend Public Works Department is addressing aging infrastructure and new federal requirements to provide continued access to cost effective, clean, and reliable drinking water for Bend residents and businesses now and for the future. The Surface Water Improvement project will update the City’s Bridge Creek water supply system by:
- Replacing failing water supply pipelines with a new pipeline under existing roadways.
- Providing opportunity for several new fire hydrants along Skyliners Road for fire suppression.
- Adding flow-control features to the new pipeline; minimizing environmental impacts by only diverting water needed for beneficial use by the City of Bend.
- Providing fish screening and passage facilities at the Bridge Creek intake facility site.
- Building a water treatment plant to filter surface water from Bridge Creek and meet new federal drinking water regulations.
More information is available on the project website: www.bendoregon.gov/surfacewater.
