Hawks Meadow residents raise concerns with water tank asthetics during ULID public hearing

CHELAN – Commissioners of the Bear Mountain Water District met on Feb. 27 at the Chelan Fire Hall in order to hold a public hearing for the proposed Utility Local Improvement Districts (ULID) No. 2 and No. 3.

A notice was sent out to all of the owners within the district that are involved with the two separate ULIDs prior to the hearing.

“There has been some confusion, under state law, there are two ways to form an ULIDs they can be initiated by a petition or they can be initiated by resolution of the board. There was a petition process a couple months back, the bond council reviewed that petition that had been submitted and they had concerns over whether the petition was going to fill the elements of the status. As a result, they recommended the board to a ratification process to initiate the ULID formation via the resolution process,” clarified  Attorney Mark Marquis.

The board met last month and adopted the resolutions to attempt to form ULIDs No. 2 and No. 3. Following that meeting legal notices were published in the paper and notices were sent out to all potentially affected property owners.

The notices included estimates of the project costs, such estimates come from the work that was done by the district’s engineer on the two projects.

“If the ULID formation is approved then the project will proceed, at the completion of the project the final cost will be known at that time,” explained Marquis. He also mentioned that there will be a final hearing when the project is completed to close the assessment roll. “Additional notice will be published in the paper, letters will be sent out to all property owners again, saying the final project costs and these are costs that being assessed in your property,” he added.

The standard terms for financing a Municipal Bond include a 20-year annual repayment plan at one percent interest. “When you have your assessment you will have the option of paying in full without any interest. The county treasurer will issue invoices to property owners and you will pay your assessment as part of your taxes,” said Marquis. All numbers that were given are just a target, finals numbers will not be set until the final hearing in the fall.

Marquis mentioned that if anyone has an objection, it must be submitted to the board in writing. “You have 10 days from the day of this hearing to file,” he said.

If during the 10 day period, 60 percent of the area property owners within the ULID object to the formation of such then the board will not go forward.

ULID No. 2 involves the Hawks Meadow and Hawks Ridge area and ULID No.3 consists of Bear Mountain’s Bandera. District’s engineer Doug Wilcox explained that ULID No. 2 project consists of upgrading the existing well pump, building two 250,000 gallons tanks that will serve as reservoirs, plus an additional 50,000-gallon reservoir. Each 250,000 gallons tank will be 30 feet high by 30 feet in diameter, he mentioned that these two will costs less than a single 350,000 gallons tank. Electrical service upgrades and interconnecting piping are part of the improvements.

Neighbors from the area where the tanks will be placed expressed their concerns on the aesthetics. Someone asked if landscaping could be done in order to camouflage the tanks. Another homeowner mentioned to the board that they should explore the possibility of burring the tank and analyzing the costs that it would imply.

On the other hand, the Bear Mountain project is much simpler. It deals with the installation of an intertie to the District’s water system sourced from Lake Chelan, plus related infrastructure along with the necessary engineering, contingency and plan upgrades.

Objection letters could be sent to P.O. Box 3091, Chelan 98816. If approved the property owners could start seeing construction during the spring time.