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Umpqua Post
Weekly news from the Heart of the Dunes AN EDITION OF
WEST
Wednesday, March 12, 2014 | Serving the Reedsport area since 1996 | theworldlink.com/reedsport | $1.00
Voters get voice on sewer plant refinance BY STEVE LINDSLEY The Umpqua Post
The Reedsport City Council voted to send a measure to voters in the May primary election that could eventually mean more money for the city’s effort to get the levee certified. The council voted Monday to ask voters to approve refinancing the city’s wastewater treatment
plant and use the savings to put toward levee certification. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has mandated Reedsport comply with levee certification requirements. The city had thought to do that it would have to raise stormwater rates. Meanwhile, the city has convinced the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to refi-
nance the construction of the wastewater treatment plant from 20 years to 30 years. If the package is approved, it would mean a reduction of monthly payments to DEQ and would mean a reduction of sewer rates. The city hopes to apply those savings to stormwater rates, meaning no financial impact to the city’s voters. Mayor Keith Tymchuk said the
city is trying to meet the needs of the city. “We’re trying to meet our obligations to ballot measure 10-119,” he explained. “We’re trying to meet the city’s obligations and needs to fix its levee, as required by FEMA. And, we’re trying, also, to find a way to prevent future rate increases as much as possible for our wastewater rate users. The city has a lot on its plate here, and is
trying to find a way to accomplish all of those things.” The council also heard a report that Douglas County would like the city to treat leachate from the county’s transfer site on Schofield Road. An agreement would allow for the installation of a sewer line to transport the leachate, a landfill byproduct. The council will next meet on April 7.
N.J. firm scales back coastal wave energy plan BY STEVE LINDSLEY The Umpqua Post
Photos by Alysha Beck, The World
Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries Commissioner Brad Avakian and Rep. Caddy McKeown watch as sophomore Seth Tabler demonstrates how to carve redwood on a lathe in the shop class Monday at Reedsport Community Charter School. The shop class recently received a $250,000 state grant to support a junior apprenticeship program where students will learn welding and fabrication skills.
Grant helps Reedsport shop program students learn trade skills BY STEVE LINDSLEY The Umpqua Post
Brad Avakian, Commissioner of the state Bureau of Labor and Industries, and state Rep. Caddie McKeown, D-Coos Bay, paid a visit Monday to Reedsport Community Charter School to look at the progress of a junior apprenticeship and shop program. Instructor Guy Marchione secured a $250,000 state grant to help students learn maritime welding, general welding, fabrication and, later in the grant cycle, road construction. Guests heard a one-hour presentation by Marchione, looked at the progress of improvements to the school and met students involved in the shop program. “The representative and I have been paying very close attention to what you’re doing down here,” Sophomore Heath Shanklin, left, explains how he and classmate Egan Glover designed a new air duct system in the Avakian said. “In many ways what shop class at Reedsport Community Charter School. Oregon Labor and Industries Commissioner Brad Avakian, right, you’re doing is helping to lead the toured the shop Monday along with Rep. Caddy McKeown. way for the rest of the state.” The tour of Reedsport facilities they can learn a great skill, that which included a representative of dents across 161 Oregon middle came just after the Oregon legisla- can help them into either an Sen. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay; schools and high schools now have ture approved $2 million in addiapprenticeship program or into a school board members; school access to 21st century learning. I’m tional funding to career and techjob.” administration; and visitors assothrilled to see Reedsport’s shop nical education in the budget that “You are leading the charge on ciated with local industry. class first hand.” passed on the last day of the 2014 the south coast,” McKeown told Students are improving the air McKeown said she has history session. Marchione and students gathered filtration system of the shop area with the Reedsport school. “With the representative’s great in the school shop. “You are and are also constructing a com“I supervised the ASPIRE proleadership we set up this grant ground zero on the South Coast for puter lab, complete with applying she said. “Part of what I did gram,” fund to hand out grants to the how this is done. I’m just delighted for permits. schools to bring back career eduthat you applied for the grant, it “Because of the support of Sen. was train volunteers on what pathways students have to success and cation,” Avakian said. “You’ve was awarded and you are leading Roblan and Rep. McKeown and apprenticeship was always a piece shown us a great example of how the charge for it.” diverse coalition of advocates,” good it is for the students here do Marchione showed the tour, Avakian said, “nearly 90,000 stu- of that conversation and training.”
Lawmakers give communities power to delay permit process for pot dispensaries BY STEVE LINDSLEY The Umpqua Post
It will be up to the Reedsport City Council to decide if it wants to delay any new marijuana dispensaries, under an amended bill
that was approved by the Oregon legislature. SB 1531 would allow cities and counties to delay action on dispensaries until May 1, 2015. The legislature is expected to take up the issue again in the 2015 session,
which begins in February. Reedsport city manager Jonathan Wright said the council could consider the issue at its April 7 meeting. “We can opt to do a moratorium on the marijuana dispensaries
for one year,” Wright said. “We have to do that soon, if we’re going to do that. Otherwise, we would not have the opportunity to preclude them in our community.” Under the bill, cities and coun-
SEE MORATORIUM, PAGE A7
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REEDSPORT — The developer of a wave energy project off the coast of Oregon near Reedsport is scaling back its plan, but not scrapping it. New Jersey-based Ocean Power Technologies had at one time proposed as many as 100 electricityproducing buoys, producing 50 megawatts of power, but surrendered the permit with the federal government. “OPT had a preliminary FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) permit for the 50megawatt project, but it just wasn’t able to meet the milestones and complete that,” said Kevin Watkins, the Oregon representative for OPT. “So it surrendered that permit last Friday.” Watkins said the company still intends to develop wave energy off the coast. “OPT embarked on an ocean wave energy project off the coast of Reedsport,” he said. “In its initial iteration it was a three-phase project. Phase one was the deployment of a single buoy, and that would be used to gather information and kind of fine tune the development work for an additional nine buoys. All those buoys would then be electrically interconnected at the Reedsport substation, which is actually at the abandoned IP (International Paper) mill.” Watkins said the ultimate goal of the scaled-back project would be 1.5 megawatts. He said they’re shooting for a goal of a first buoy next summer. “The schedule is currently to have a single buoy deployed in the summer of 2015,” he said. “And, per the FERC permit, we have to have the remaining nine buoys deployed and electrically connected by the summer of 2017.” He said reports of the project being completely abandoned were not correct. Questioned on his confidence for meeting the schedule for its first buoy next year, Watkins said, “We’re pulling out all the stops. We’re devoting all the limited resources that we have to get that done. We’ve been working closely with several state agencies and several agencies to get that done. There’s a lot that needs to fall into place.” He said the company has a comprehensive 24-month schedule in place, and will hold a series of meetings next week to get comments from the state and federal government. Chris Castelli, a senior policy advisor for the Oregon Department of State Lands, said the department, which has jurisdiction of the “territorial sea” out to 3 miles, is proceeding slowly. “At this time we have only authorized the deployment of one ‘non-grid-’ connected power buoy,” he said. “They have applied for an ocean energy lease to put 10 out, but we’ve never gone any farther than the discussions of the 10. It doesn’t change much for us at this point.”