Easement, pipes discussed

by Nathan Arneal
Published 4/15/26

The North Bend City Council and North Bend Central discussed a city easement that may be in the way of the elementary school’s growth at the April 7 council meeting.

NBC superintendent Patrick Ningen and head of maintenance Roy Wright were inquiring about an easement on school property where a power line runs underground between a power pole and the lights on the baseball field.

Plans to expand the elementary school building to the north would put the expansion on top of that power line easement.

Wright asked if the city council would agree to let the school build on top of the easement. He said he thought an electrical line could be accessed even with a building on top of it by pulling it through a conduit from one end.

Wright said another option would be to redraw the easement and lay new wiring around the future building’s footprint but it would be cheaper to leave it in place and build over it. Construction is set for the summer of 2027.

Councilman Ken Streff suggested leaving the easement and wiring in place but drawing a new easement to the north going around the construction in case someday the wire needed to be moved from under the building. Streff made a motion to that effect and it was unanimously approved, with councilman Alex Legge absent.

City clerk Theresa Busse delivered some eye-rolling news. Over the past several years the city has slip-lined several of its sewer lines. Slip lining, which installs a waterproof lining inside the existing pipes, was seen as a cheaper alternative to replacing the lines. It was done at the request of the Environmental Protection Agency to seal leaks and to prevent ground water from seeping into the pipes and running through the wastewater treatment plant.

Now, without the groundwater infiltration, the pipes are too dry and the solid waste is clogging up the pipes.

“The EPA pushes this because they don’t want this infiltration,” Busse said. “They want everybody to fix these mains and stop all that, but as soon as they do they have backups. The toilets don’t use much water anymore and you don’t have the seepage coming in.”

She said some towns have the fire departments shoot water into the sewer lines to get enough flow to push the solid waste through.

“Here we thought we spent all this money to do the right thing, and now we’re backing up,” Busse said.

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