Yes Philomath, It’s About the Water…Vote Informed

 

Fact, not Agenda…How water availability and budget shortfalls have created the perfect storm.

http://www.biscoeforphilomath.com

Since the early 1990s, Philomath residents, Planning Commissioners and Chamber of Commerce members were sounding the warnings on limited water resources for Philomath, and urging for sustainable and managed growth to preserve water for the future residents of Philomath….whether by neglect or intent, our City leaders have failed to take heed, continuing to approve tremendous levels of development while limiting budget planning for needed water infrastructure.

Fast forward to 2018, when the City of Philomath formally adopted the updated Water System Master Plan.  Already countless development proposals and new development had been approved over the years, including the massive BLVD apartment complex, with no water criteria development guidelines established in the Municipal Code to consider water availability and infrastructure to support these developments pouring into Philomath.

The most recent and most sizable development proposals, the Beelart Annexation on No. 12^th Street and the Lepman Master Planned Development were met with testimony after testimony before the City Council, pleading with them to recognize the peril of the water crisis in Philomath from the impacts of global climate change, overuse of the Mary’ River, high water usage developments and expected increased usage of Corvallis’ upstream water rights.

100-Year Water Vision Technical Workshop

November 14, 2019, Willamette University hosted the  100-Year Water Vision Technical Workshop in Salem as presented by the Oregon State Watershed Enhancement Board. The committee leading this project is tasked with reaching out statewide to evaluate water concerns for all citizens in the State of Oregon.  The workshop was filled attendees of City and State leaders, Indian Nation representatives, numerous agencies throughout the state that deal with water, conservation, health and environmentalism and a wide cross section of experts in water related professions as well as citizens who share interest in water concerns.

Topics of discussion were on water quality, availability,  affordability, environment, future trends including dramatic population increases and funding.  The workshop was extensive and the results of the collaboration will be presented to the Governor as well as brought back to the participants with the intent that a 100 Year plan will begin to develop concerning Oregon's water.

More information can be found at Oregon's Water Vision webpage:

https://www.oregon.gov/oweb/resources/oregonwatervision/pages/default.aspx?utm_source=GOV&utm_medium=egov_redirect&utm_campaign=http%3A//www.oregonwatervision.org/

Help  refine the goals and problem statements of Oregon’s 100-Year Water Vision by filling out this survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ShareYourWVThoughts

Keep informed by subscribing to the Oregon Water Vision email update list at the end of this survey!

City of Philomath and the "Chamber of Collusion"

Ex parte contacts, sketchy procedure and suspect allies.

As Philomath staggers under the onslaught of recent new developments and annexations, the latest
proposed development in town, the Lepman Master Planned Development has come under close
scrutiny by many local residents, business owners and community stakeholders.

After months of questionable Land Use procedure and public involvement practices between City
Officials and Philomath residents, several highly improper events took place at the Philomath Chamber of Commerce September luncheon.

In a room filled with local business owners, non-profit representatives, community leaders and City
officials, developer Scott Lepman presented his proposal for the already denied Master Planned
Development of 39 acres on the North side of Philomath. Beautiful full color 11x17, double-sided flyers, touting the benefits to Philomath of the RV Park, Self-Storage and Industrial Flex Space, were placed at each table. Key phrases such as “tourism, higher profits and honoring rural lifestyles” jumped off the pages.

Just weeks prior, on August 26 th , the Philomath Planning Commission had denied Lepman’s Master
Planned Development application. That denial was based on Development Criteria that was not met as defined by State Law and the Philomath Comprehensive Plan. The denial cited inadequate job
development and the risk of the RV park becoming substandard housing, which has happened at The
Blue Ox of Albany, another Lepman owned RV Park.

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Audio of city council meeting

POST TEST

 - Marion Dark proposes audio recording for ALL City of Philomath meetings

-City Council votes down motion 3-2

(Opposed to audio recording, Edmond, Low and Thomas, In Favor, Dark and Jones)

-City Council votes down motion 3-2 

(Opposed to audio recording, Edmonds, Low and Thomas, In Favor, Dark and Jones)

Why Transparency Matters:

-26 acre "Mini-City" proposal before Planning Commission July 15th, 7pm

-35% growth from developments approved in last 2 years

-No City clear plan for Water Treatment Plant/Water Infrastructure costs of $29M

- Water Town Hall experts site "low water flows" of Mary's River and reveal in 2015 Philomath was set to have water restriction imposed by Regional Water Master

During the June 24^th City Council meeting, Councilor Marion Dark made a motion attempting to establish audio recordings for all City meetings, adding Public Works and the Finance/Administration Committee, where many real city finance decisions are made.  She urged the keeping of the recordings on the City’s website for a minimum of 3-6 months for public access. 

After 30 minutes of discussion and objection, City Manager, Chris Workman had convinced three Councilors to vote the motion down. Vote: 3-2 (Opposed: Low, Edmonds, Thomas. In Favor: Dark, Jones).

Why Transparency Matters?

Philomath has approved an un-precedented (35%+) amount of growth since 2017, with another 26-acre,  Master Plan Development Hearing before the Planning Commission, July 15^th.  The original Hearing on May 20^th was suspiciously canceled by the city (unknowing to the Planning Commission), the same day a 2000 address mailer alerting Philomath residents of the Hearing was released. 

Philomath has exceeded the lifespan of our Water Treatment Plant facility over 10 years ago.  To date there has been no clear communication to citizens or up front planning addressing the Treatment Plant and other needed infrastructure expenditures estimated at $29 million.

In May, The City sponsored a Water Town Hall event with expert speakers  addressing Philomath’s overall water supply, facility, distribution concerns and impacts from climate change showing warming trends for the entire valley.  Guest experts at no time stated that Philomath has enough water for continued population growth and development.  However, their data and reports clearly showed that there are concerns and Philomath has supply issues during the dry season, with a near water curtailment in 2015.  This is with a current population of 4700.  

Looking to mitigate water issues, the City is considering using existing wells as Aquifer Storage Recovery systems (ASRs).  This would require a considerable investment with no guarantee that the sizable cost would produce a solution as ASR’s are not necessarily a proven solution.

Those same wells have proven unreliable, hence the reason the City went to the Mary’s River for their water source. Obtaining water from Corvallis is not only tremendously costly, it is not a long-term solution. Corvallis is also dealing with unprecedented development and growth and may not continue to make excess water available to serve Philomath.

Building a new Water Treatment Plant and infrastructure is a requirement for  Philomath, but how we fund those substantial costs is a decision the Citizens should have input on.  Transparency and accountability, creativity, grants and conservation programs are necessary.   We should demand dedicated funding for these costs, as Councilor Marion Dark has suggested, reflecting a willingness of the City Council to show transparency and honesty to its Citizens. We should NOT settle for unrestricted General Water Fund rate increases that will nearly double Philomath’s water rates with no real path to the new Water Treatment Plant costs.

Continued development and population growth is not feasible with natural resource limitations and securing our water supply is clearly an issue for Philomath. Our citizens do not want to face a water crisis and need our leadership to be responsible in the decisions they make today for the future of our community.

The criteria (methodology) that the City uses for water and other infrastructure capacity is currently under appeal before the Oregon State Court of Appeals.
Case No. 2019-008. 

It would be irresponsible to continue to approve additional development that requires services and resources that Philomath does not have and that our citizens will be forced to FUND!

By Jeff Lamb- Jeff Lamb is Guest Editor for PhilomathInfo Blog