New Search
Relationshiu to Long-Range Regional Planning and Other Potential Extraterritorial <br /> Service Needs <br /> Part of SEL's directive to staff in formulating this report was to consider Coburg's request for <br /> wastewater services in the broader regional planning context, including potential future service <br /> requests from other small cities surrounding the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area. <br /> Specifically, staff was directed to relate Coburg's request to the Region 2050 planning study and <br /> its strategies for meeting the service demands of long-term regional growth. The relevance of <br /> this direction became real during the preparation of this report, because Regional Wastewater <br /> Program staff recently received an inquiry from Junction City staff regarding the possibility of <br /> receiving wastewater services. This section summarizes the relevant information available at <br /> this time, and the preliminary conclusions reached regarding efficient means of providing <br /> wastewater services throughout the Southern Willamette Valley. <br /> Eugene, Springfield, Lane County, and Coburg are parties to the Region 2050 planning study <br /> which is being undertaken to help establish a consensus for a preferred Regional Growth <br /> .Management Strategy for the Southern Willamette Valley. The boundaries of the study area take <br /> in several communities. beyond the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area, including Coburg, <br /> Creswell <br /> Veneta Jun <br /> ction Ci <br /> Goshen Pl <br /> easant Hil <br /> 1 Westfir <br /> tY and others. The study models <br /> three potential growth scenarios for the future. These include: 1) a focus on "Compact Urban <br /> Growth," with only modest expansion of L1GBs to support future growth; 2) increased focus on <br /> expansion of "Satellite Community Growth" to support regional growth demands; and 3) <br /> increased "Rural Growth" to more closely approach urban levels of development in areas where <br /> rural resources (i.e., agriculture and forestry) are marginal. <br /> Wastewater services are among the services undergoing analysis within.the Region 2050 <br /> planning study. The Rural Growth scenario would result in the least amount of new demand for <br /> sewerage services, because of the expected increase in rural residential development with on-site <br /> se tics stems. H <br /> owever re ardless <br /> p Y of which re ion <br /> S g al growth patterns emerge as preferred, <br /> Eugene-Springfield and several small communities in the area will require new and/or expanded <br /> wastewater collection and treatment facilities within the 2050 planning horizon. Some of the <br /> small neighboring communities, such as Veneta, Lowell and Creswell have or are in the process <br /> of constructing centralized wastewater services. Others, like Coburg and Goshen rely on private <br /> septic systems which will eventually need to be replaced by alternative systems, and a decision <br /> about how to best meet community wastewater treatment requirements will need to be made. <br /> Coburg's poor groundwater situation (the area has been designated as a groundwater <br /> management zone by the DEQ due to high levels of nitrates in the groundwater) and resulting <br /> restrictions for planned industrial expansion, have led to the City being the first case to test the <br /> :question and the preliminary conclusions reached by Region 2050 Technical Advisory <br /> Committee staff (TAC) who are providing wastewater systems planning analyses. <br /> It should be noted that the Region 2050 planning horizon extends a fu1125 years beyond the <br /> current MWMC Facilities Plan, which establishes the treatment processes and capital <br /> improvement projects needed to meet community growth and environmental performance <br /> requirements within the Eugene-Springfield UGB through 2025. The vast unknowns regarding <br /> likely technological advancements in wastewater treatment, the Willamette River's ability to <br /> . assimilate increased pollutant discharges, and the levels of treatment that will be required to <br /> address environmental conditions this far into the future all make it fruitless to predict the <br /> technologies and cost-effective locations of new wastewater treatment facilities that will be <br /> <br /> r' developed to .serve Eugene-Springfield between 2025 and 2050. The wastewater loads <br /> City Council page 439 Page 3 <br /> 1 <br /> <br />