Bend council sells Juniper Water system, holds fire on Troy Field

The Bend City Council drew not just support, but applause Wednesday night for voting to sell off a troubled water system to the private sector. On another, touchy topic, it decided to hold off on a vote and try to avoid a costly, public fight with another elected body over the future of a downtown green space.

The long, winding — and costly — road of the former Juniper Utility Co. neighborhoods on Bend’s south side took a new and hopeful turn Wednesday night as councilors moved ahead with transferring the water system to two private companies, Roats and Avion water.

Roats Water System is paying $1.4 million for its share of the system and Avion Water Co. $400,000 for its portion.

The city also agreed to declare surplus and sell a small parcel of the city’s water system to those companies.

Developer Jan Ward built the system in the 1970s to serve subdivisions on his family’s old dairy ranch, such as Mountain High, Tilicum Village and Timber Ridge.

Back in 1998, the Oregon Public Utility Commission enforced rates Ward felt were too low, which led him to decrease water pressure — and in ensuing years, that brought pleas from residents that the council step in and the city take over the system, for crucial fire-hydrant flows and so that they had adequate water pressure for daily use as well.

So the council condemned the system after residents complained about their difficulty taking showers and doing laundry. But a legal battle followed with Ward, and the city ended up paying him nearly $10 million in a settlement

Most of the system is being purchased by the Roats Water System, a privately held water utility company owned by the family of Councilor Casey Roats, who recused himself from Wednesday’s discussions and vote.

Several speakers praised the agreement as one that would put the system in good hands and not result in unacceptable rate hikes (though Roats recently did ask the state for permission to raise its overall rates an average of 32 percent, the first such request in a decade.) A Mountain High representative said there was not a single dissenting vote in a poll of residents at a meeting on the topic this week.

The council also unanimously agreed to hold off on a second and final vote to reject the Bend-La Pine School District’s request for a zoning designation change for Troy Field, the downtown patch of green it wants to sell for $2.9 million to a Portland developer for plans to build a hotel there.

The clash resulted in rare public friction between two governing bodies and left the school district pondering an appeal to the state Land Use Board of Appeals – a literal “turf war” both sides now seem anxious to resolve.

An attorney for the school district asked for a one-month delay in the final vote and approval of written findings, saying they would like to find a way to avoid an appeal.

So would councilors, so both agencies’ staff will be meeting to try to come to terms on a path forward that doesn’t involve a high-profile fight and more legal expenses.

“The key, really, is to get a cooperative agreement with them and avoid lawsuits,” said Councilor Victor Chudowsky. “I don’t think it’s good for one elected body to be filing appeals of the decisions of another.”

Colleague Nathan Boddie agreed: “It doesn’t look good, and it’s not good policy.”

So did Councilor Doug Knight, whose call for an “apology” from the school district at the last meeting ruffled many feathers, as did a printed characterization of the school board as “greedy.”

“That wasn’t a particularly proud moment of my council time here,” Knight said, noting that he’d also told the reporter that state law does not allow elected bodies to consider financial matters in such land use decisions.

“I think there’s a lot of emotion surrounding this particular request,” he said, adding later, “I think it’s important that saner minds prevail.”

Good dealings with another local government – Bend Park and Rec – also was a key part of discussions over an agreement in which the city collects park development fees, and whether and how that should change

“It’s not our job to ‘stick it to ‘em,’ but make sure we are recovering our costs,” Knight said.

Colleague sally Russell said there are long-time developers who don’t know much of the SDCs (system development charges) they pay to the city actually go to the park district.

The council also appointed 13 members to a “stakeholder advisory committee” for the issue of downtown parking now being reviewed by a consultant. At an earlier work session, familiar issues emerged from past such discussions: employees using downtown parking meant for patrons and moving their cars to deal with the 2-hour time limit and avoid a ticket, even parking along Riverside Boulevard and making it hard for Drake Park users to find a place to park.

Councilors also will be talking at a work session later this month about the sticky issues of homelessness – “nuisance campers” along city streets that have brought neighborhood complaints, and a new Springfield law to cite motorists who give panhandlers money or other goods, akin to a traffic ticket.

It’s a long-standing issue faced by many local governments, with constitutional and civil-liberty legal issues making it something of a minefield. On the Springfield law, for example, City Attorney Mary Winters noted the issue of what such a law means for firefighters who collect Muscular Dystrophy Association donations with their “fill the boot” street-corner campaigns.

Boddie made his views clear amid the discussion: “I just think we’re legislating taste, and time has shown governments do that badly every single time. Outlawing people for being poor is just not cool.”