Emergency meeting: Road washout

Silver Sands Special Road District

Meeting Notes

January 20, 2012

Following record rains the past few days, a culvert failed under Sarkisian Dr. and the road has washed out. The road committee members have been managing the situation as detailed below. Your input is important to us. Feel free to comment.

• Immediately following the cave-in, we placed barricades on either side of the washout.
• Seal Rock fire department was contacted. They responded and made note of the need to re-route around Powe St. in case of emergency.
• Seal Rock Water District contacted. They inspected the water main and declared it fit and not in any immediate danger. 
• Pioneer Telephone Coop contacted. They inspected the phone cable, made suggestions, and offered solutions to facilitate a road repair. 
• Several contractors contacted and met for consultation: Gary Trion of Tri-Ag, Mark Weiderholt, Road and Driveway Co., Ernie ___ who delivers gravel and used to be the ODOT manager. 
• Insurance company contacted. Our insurance will not cover this.
• Lincoln Co. Emergency Management contacted. FEMA funding for disaster relief will be announced, perhaps next week. Some funding may be available for projects like this, if funds remain after the higher priorities are dealt with. 
• Tax increase considered. Not the best way to deal with this sort of situation. A tax increase would require voter approval. It would be a long process, involving a vote on a November ballot, a tax increase the following year, and then finally a small check. We would have to get a loan to pay for the repair.
• Bond funding. We might be able to pass a bond measure for this specific repair.  We would also have to get a loan to pay for the repair.
• Pass-the-hat funding. Might work. 
• We dug out as much vegetation and gravel as we could to improve the flow and prevent the continued erosion of the roadway. 

We met later to discuss solutions to this problem. Initial estimates to dump some gravel and make it drive-able ranged from $1400 to $2500. The contractors want to wait for the water to recede before estimating a better solution, such as:

• Remove the steel culvert and replace it with a plastic pipe. The plastic pipe would be more durable, and the smooth interior surface would be less likely to get plugged up. 
• Clean out the culvert with a water jet.
• Sleeve the existing culvert with a smaller plastic pipe.
• Other solution that may become apparent when they can see through the pipes.

This is somewhat academic, because our total funding to deal with this problem is $0.00. So for now, the road is closed, and will remain that way. 

Photos and additional details are available on the Silver Sands Neighborhood Blog and Forum.