The Sunriver Home Expo at SHARC on April 6 features vendors and informative talks. Page 6
INSIDE THIS ISSUE SROA News ................... 4 Calendar ..................... 13 SHARC News ............... 22
Public Safety ............... 27 Classified .................... 38 Letters to the Editor .... 39
Owners have one more opportunity to provide North Pool improvement ideas on March 20 at SHARC. Page 12
S U N R I V E R
S C E N E A NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE SUNRIVER OWNERS ASSOCIATION
VOLUME XLV • NUMBER 3
MARCH • 2019
PUC hosted owner comment meeting on water sale
Work to begin on Sunriver-linked bike trail network
By Susan Berger, Sunriver Scene SROA NEWS – Some 50 Sunriver owners attended the Feb. 7 Public Utilities Commission (PUC) public comment meeting, held at Sunriver Resort. The PUC is required to host public meetings to provide an opportunity for customers of Sunriver Water, LLC to comment on the pending sale of the utility company to NW Natural Water. Although several owners had questions about Sunriver Environmental, which operates the sewer/wastewater facility, this meeting was only to discuss the water portion of the sale – not the sewer services – of which the PUC has no oversight. “It’s our job to examine all risks and benefits of the sale and that it proves no harm to Sunriver Water customers,” said Michael Grant, administrative law judge of the Oregon Public Utilities Commission and led the meeting. More than a dozen owners addressed the commission, with comments or questions including: • Will the water billing look different? • Will current staff remain employed following the sale? • There is talk of upgrades, will there be rate impacts or increases? • What do you look for as a viable sale? • Owners have a strong vested interest, shouldn’t SROA be offered right of first refusal? • Concern over adequate capacity for fire suppression • Concern over adequate capacity, should demographics change (eg: more permanent residents) • Concern for adequate capacity due to the proposed expansion of Caldera Springs • Concern over water rights • Owners need longer time to evaluate all information and should be able to vote on the sale • Concern over some wells, and associated water rights, not being included in the pending sale and being transferred T W S, SUNRIVER SCENE SUNRIVER OWNERS ASSN. VOLUME XLV • NUMBER 3 P.O. BOX 3278 SUNRIVER, OR 97707
PHOTO BY SUSAN BERGER
Kyle Otteni of Pro Tree Care removes a tree that fell on a truck.
PHOTO BY SGT. PJ BEATY
PHOTO BY LINDA KAKES
A tree blocks a Sunriver road (above). Jim Kakes (left) stands next to a completely uprooted tree to provide scale.
High winds tear through Sunriver By Susan Berger, Sunriver Scene of trees down on roadways, pathways, SROA NEWS – Sunriver experi- commons and private property. SROA enced a high wind incident on Jan. 23 Public Works crews worked non-stop with gusts clocked as high as 70 mph to respond to and clear some 200 trees and bringing down hundreds of trees that were blocking roads throughout around the community. The winds also Sunriver. knocked out power to more than 2,000 Some of the hardest hit lanes included customers in Malheur, Aspen, and around the Big Leaf and ar“I thank all the SROA Public eas near the river Sunriver-area and shut down Works staff for taking such good and golf courses. Mt. Bachelor – Big Leaf Lane care of us here in Sunriver.” which recorded resident Kirk –Bonnie Sperbeck Woolpert noted a 105 mph wind gust around 10 how unusual the a.m. Sunriver’s periodic outages prompt- winds were. His property sustained damed the closure of SHARC’s pool for a age when a large, mature tree snapped short period of time. and hit an upper deck, which actually SROA fielded more than 820 calls shielded his home from receiving more between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. with reports
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By Susan Berger, Sunriver Scene What first began more than eight years ago as an idea of creating a Sunriver connection to mountain bike trails between prime destinations in the region has come to fruition. On Jan. 31, Kevin Larkin, District Ranger with the Deschutes National Forest BendFt. Rock Ranger District, approved the creation of a trail system that will connect Sunriver’s west-side to the greater network of mountain biking trails in the Wanoga Sno-Park and Cascade Lakes Welcome Station areas. Project history The proposed trail plan was first developed in 2010. Three Sunriver residents and mountain biking enthusiasts – Jed Bonnem, Scott Hall and Jim Stone – created a steering committee and partnered with the Central Oregon Trails Alliance (COTA) in 2012. The group brought the proposed plan to the SROA Board of Directors in September 2012, seeking and subsequently receiving a letter of support for the project. In April 2013 the trail system proposal was presented to the U.S. Forest Service, who controls the land where the trails will go. Refinement of the proposed plan took place over the next few years as it was routed through rigorous environmental assessments, public comment periods, meetings with area stakeholders and applications for grant funding and donations. “This is the beginning of the end of several years of cooperation and partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and other government organizations, COTA, SROA, Sunriver Resort, local business entities and interested owners,” said Hall, who remains from the original committee. Bonnem and Stone have since moved out of the area. Although Hall noted there are many people to thank for the ultimate success of this project, he singled out Bonnem and Marv Lang, Recreation Forester for the Deschutes National Forest (and also known as “Trails Guy for the Deschutes National Forest”). T T, PRSRT STD. U.S. POSTAGE PAID BEND, OR PERMIT NO. 213