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Land Board decision kills Florence casino sewer deal 09/02/06 Decision kills sewer agreement by Bret Yager Siuslaw News "We hoped it would work and it didn't.  It's disappointing to have had so much community support and to have it turned back with this delay."  Nola Xavier, City Councilor A new land board ruling has derailed sewer plans for the Three Rivers Casino. The Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians have decided to build their own wastewater treatment plant rather than face the delays and uncertainty of trying to hook up to city sewer lines following a decision last week by the state Land Use Board of Appeals. LUBA ruled that Florence and local tribes had more work to do before the city could go ahead with a sewer extension to the casino. Florence would have needed to show why the extension was necessary and the tribes would have needed to come forward with more details about the projects that the sewer lines would service. Tribal economic development director Bob Garcia said he was saddened that the city and local agencies will now forgo $2.5 million in revenue from the agreement over the next 10 years. But the ruling does not exactly come as a shock.     “We’ve known that a city extending sewer services onto tribal land was never contemplated by the Department of Lane Conservation and Development,” he said. “It’s sort of like fitting a square peg in a round hole, but it did look like it was an option and a way for us to do what the people voted for.” City Councilor Nola Xavier said it was apparent from the beginning that Florence was trying to break new ground.   “We hoped it would work and it didn’t” she said. “It’s disappointing to have had so much community support and to have it turned back with this delay.” “Justice has been done,” offered Councilor Nan Osbon, who has been an outspoken opponent of the casino. Garcia said the tribes are looking at new low-impact wastewater treatment technology and are prepared to go ahead building their own plant.  “From a tribal perspective, this has no impact at all on our expansion,” he said. The tribes had given the city a deadline of September 1 to declare whether Florence would be able to provide the extension after 61 percent of Florence voters approved the move last fall. Tribal members have said repeatedly that they will build their own wastewater treatment plant if necessary. They are constructing a 70,000 square foot casino expansion and hotel slated to open next summer.  The tribes had agreed to pay normal flow charges and $200,000 a year to the city and local agencies, plus $54,000 a year to a joint tourism marketing fund in exchange for the sewer hookup.     The extension would have been the first of its kind in the state, and required an exception to state planning Goal 11 and an amendment to the city’s Comprehensive Plan.  Goal 11 prevents cities from extending services outside their urban growth boundaries except to mitigate a public health hazard. The city tried to get an exception to that goal with the argument that a tribes-built sewer plant would threaten the Siulsaw River.  LUBA ruled that the city still needed to prove that having a tribes-built and operated sewer treatment plant at the casino would be more likely to cause a spill that if the city hooked the facility up to its own sewer plant.  “LUBA said there is no evidence that two small treatment systems are more dangerous than one large one, said attorney Jan Wilson, who represented the appeal. Plus, if the city wanted to extend sewer lines to the casino, the decision read, the tribes would have to provide information about exactly what development would take place at the casino. “LUBA said the city can’t extend services unless the tribes say what they’re going to do with them,” Wilson said. The board decision followed an appeal of the extension by Florence resident Debbie Todd, who was backed by 1,000 Friends of Oregon and Goal One Coalition. The land watchdog groups said the precedent-setting proposal offered a bad example by extending services outside a city boundary to a sovereign nation. “I think LUBA told the city that just because the casino doesn’t have to obey state law, it doesn’t mean the city doesn’t have to,” Todd said. 09/06/06 Letter to Editor Who's "accountable" "Accountability" is a term in wide use today.  The Siuslaw News of 2 September quotes Bob Garcia and Nola Xavier to the effect that the Confederated Tribes and the Florence City Council knowingly squandered city funds for an election (and all the administrative functions attendant to the sewer extension) trying to fit "a square peg in a round hole" and "trying to break new ground".  In times of severely limited government budgets those members of the City Council who promoted and supported the sewer extension proposal would seem to be guilty of the first and last charges in the expression "Waste, fraud and abuse".  The question is, how will they be held accountable? B. Durst, Florence

Related Links: Casino Facts - Florence Agreement with Casino Research: Taxes Lost to Casino

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