We recently received important news from the City of Eugene that helps to clarify the construction timeline for the College Hill project, and provides additional options for siting the new tank on the College Hill property.
The news from the City relates to the East 40th project. The City Planning Department determined that construction of public water storage at the East 40th site is an allowed use, and does not require Planned Unit Development (PUD) approval.
While the project still needs to meet certain land use and development standards, the process is more straightforward and less time-consuming.
Why is this significant to College Hill?
1) It means construction at College Hill likely will not begin until mid-2023.
The City's decision enables EWEB to pursue our "preferred path" of building new storage at East 40th
before
College Hill, allowing us to delay construction at College Hill until mid-2023.
2) It allows the option to site the new College Hill tank within the footprint of the existing reservoir.
Prior to the City's decision, EWEB was facing the challenge of needing to start construction at College Hill while moving through a PUD process at East 40th. This would mean building a new tank on the site, carefully deconstructing half of the College Hill reservoir to make room for construction activities while leaving the other half of the College Hill reservoir in service to maintain water pressure throughout the system. Recall that EWEB is under a state-mandated deadline to mitigate water quality issues at College Hill by 2023.
Constructing at East 40th
before
College Hill will provide the "replacement" storage needed to take the existing College Hill reservoir out-of-service, in its entirety, prior to building the new tank. This also potentially allows us to place the new tank largely within the existing footprint on the south side of the property.
Benefits of placing the new tank within the footprint of the existing reservoir include:
- Significantly less groundwork and related construction impacts – the geotechnical report shows areas of very hard rock on the site and using the previously excavated area lessens the time and intensity of earthwork.
- Maintains a viewshed for adjacent neighbors (particularly on the Lincoln St. side) similar to existing conditions.
In a nutshell, with the City's zone verification in-hand, our goal now is to complete the design and construction of one 7.5 MG tank at E. 40th Ave. and bring that facility online by mid-2023. We would then proceed with removing the existing reservoir at College Hill and constructing a new 7.5 MG tank at the College Hill site.
Here is high level summary of the major College Hill project milestones:
Remainder of 2020 – 2021:
- Preliminary tank design and site layout
- Historical review and public input process
2021 - 2022:
- Detailed tank design - this is when final placement of the new tank will be determined
- Landscape design and public input process
Mid-2023:
- Remove existing reservoir
- Begin earthwork, site prep and construction
Late-2025:
- Complete construction, landscaping and fencing
