6 April 2015
$6-million upgrade designed and built ‘in-house’
Motorists along Highway 101 north of Florence have faced minor delays recently while crews with Central Lincoln PUD have been installing a new high-voltage transmission line between the Heceta Substation and a new one going in on Kingwood at the Business Park.
Bruce Lovelin – “It’s going to be the largest capacity substation that Central Lincoln PUD has built. And it’s going to be located in the industrial park and construction is ongoing right now.”
Bruce Lovelin, the Chief Engineer on the project, says the new line, like the majority of other PUD lines in the area, will be overhead.
Bruce Lovelin – “Underground would be very nice, but it’s very costly. Generally the costs are about ten times the price for going underground and overhead and so it kind of makes it cost prohibitive.”
The line is being designed and built entirely by Central Lincoln’s own crews.
Bruce Lovelin – “For a utility our size that’s kind of unique because you generally you contract out a lot of this work. What that means for us, is that we get good value for the work that we do. It’s great that when the people that design and build it, also will be maintaining and operating it. So, there’s a lot of pride in workmanship.”
In addition to allowing the utility to meet future growth needs, it will also increase reliability. Work is expected to be completed by this fall.
Fire cause for Wednesday house fire determined
A plastic garbage can on top of a kitchen range was determined to be the cause of a Wednesday house fire that left a Florence family homeless. Siuslaw Valley Fire Marshall Sean Barrett said the investigation into the cause of the blaze was unable to determine whether or not the burner beneath the garbage can had been left on or if the switch had malfunctioned. That question will likely go unanswered because of the damage to the range.
The home owners, Sean and Carolyn Meskimen, left the house Wednesday evening about 20-minutes before neighbors discovered the fire.
The fire damage in the kitchen area was complete with heat and smoke damaging the rest of the home and rendering the contents useless. Barrett estimated the total damage at about $180-thousand.
In addition to the home and contents, the Meskimens lost one of three family dogs. One pet survived the fire and the third was with them.
The Red Cross has provided immediate assistance; the family does have insurance, but a fund drive has also been established to help them deal with the loss.
Expected approval of annexation request
The Florence City Council is being asked to approve annexation of slightly less than a half-acre of land along Rhododendron Drive near Heceta Beach Road. Mike and Barb Cessnum, the owners of Jerry’s Place Bar and Grill requested the annexation earlier this year so they could connect to city sewer.
The application has been reviewed at the staff level, and the Planning Commission has already signed off on the deal.
Because there are no residences involved, and because the property owners are requesting the annexation, no public hearing is required.
The Cessnums have already paid an application fee of $1750, plus, if approved they will pay a systems development charge of just under $10-thousand… and actual costs related to the connection.
The Council meets this evening at six at City Hall. In an unrelated matter, they’ll meet at 5:30 in a private, executive session to discuss collective bargaining negotiations.
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