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Sisters, Oregon
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Buck Run resident fights for sewer hookup
By Jim Cornelius

But where will the effluent go?

A sewer line runs just across the street from Murray Perkins' lot on the corner of Locust and Tyler streets in Buck Run -- but Perkins can't hook up to it.

Instead, the City of Sisters wants Perkins to run a main line up Tyler "to and through" his property so that his neighbor's up the street can eventually tie in to the sewer.

Hooking up across the street would cost about $2,500, according to Perkins' research. Running a mainline up the street would cost about $18,000.

The city has offered to pay one-third of that cost and Perkins would someday be reimbursed for part of the cost as his neighbors come online. Still, Perkins would be some $5,000 out of pocket when all is said and done.

Perkins appealed to the Sisters City Council on Thursday, March 14, to take another look at his case. He argued that he had a verbal agreement with the city in September 2000 when he pulled his building permit that he would be able to hook up across the street.

Perkins is in a bind. He decided not to install a septic system on his lot and, now that the sewer is available, Deschutes County won't let him install one.

Mayor Steve Wilson promised to review the case with the city engineer.

Perkins' case is part of a larger controversy over the status of properties in Phase III of the Buck Run subdivision. Those properties were not part of the original scope of the sewer project, even though they are in the city limits.

Most of the Phase III properties have been left off the sewer -- although four lots along Tyee Drive got sewer service because engineers decided they needed to run a line along that street for better efficiency.

The Phase III property owners must install their own sewer main lines and laterals. Most of those property owners say they were unaware that they were not going to be included on the sewer system when they purchased their lots from developer Mylon Buck.

The city has offered to pay one-third of the cost for the residents to construct mains and laterals.

The city has estimated a cost of $150,803.78.

However, the residents believe they can get the work done privately at a much lower cost.

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