The City Council hired Walker-Macy of Portland to complete engineering and designs for the Sankey Pond area.
The project will replace what had been Sankey Pond with wetlands and the realignment of Ames Creek in the third phase of the Ames Creek Restoration Project. Other components to the project include cross channel weirs to provide fish passage and the replacement of bank stabilization structures.
The city is using a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Forest Service and a $10,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department through the South Santiam Watershed Council to pay for the designs. Walker-Macy is charging $58,800.
Walker-Macy was not the lowest of the eight bidders, with at least two between $57,000 and $58,000. They were ranked highest in interviews, Community Development Director Carol Lewis said, because they were the only firm to connect ecological issues to the community’s needs.
“They are the only firm to have provided detailed information and a qualified team to address each of the diverse technical issues in this project,” Lewis said. “The review committee believes they showed a better understanding of the complex nature of the project and have assembled a team with the project knowledge and experience to address each area.”
“The Sankey Pond site is a focal point for the community in the City of Sweet Home,” Walker-Macy’s presentation said. “Located adjacent to the newly built Community Center, the school ball fields and Sankey Park, the site provides a unique opportunity within the city to create a very attractive natural resource amenity within a park setting for passive recreation, education, wildlife and fish habitat.
“The Ames Creek Restoration Project should consider ways to provide future linkages to trails and interface smoothly with adjacent residential landscaping.…
“With the right balance of environmental, recreational and municipal uses, Ames Creek will be viewed as a great success and a very positive improvement to the community.”
As the firm develops plans, it will consider water rights, safety and security, planting to control temperature, non-native invasive species management, fish passage, downcutting and grade control and flood control.
Walker-Macy will facilitate public meetings as it develops its plans, possibly with a final public meeting at the Tree Fair in early April.
The designs are scheduled for completion in mid-March. Following that, some preparation work may begin in the stream at Sankey Park.
The project has approximately $190,000 in U.S. Forest Service money to implement the designs.
Major construction work will take place in the stream after the Oregon Jamboree country music festival Aug. 2-4, Lewis said. After in-stream work will be planting and erosion control.
“We won’t disturb anything till after the Jamboree,” Lewis said, but the pond will not be filled this year. At the same time, work will be underway at the high school on a new gym. “We don’t want to add other constraints (to the event).”
The final part of the project, a system of trails and bridges around and across the stream, will be completed later, Lewis said. The project is still attempting to secure funding for the work.
The second phase of the project, which includes Ames Creek from Sankey Park to Main Street remains underway. Work is nearly complete between Long and Main streets. A juvenile work crew will spread hay in different areas around the creek between Long and Main streets to complete that portion of the project. The crew also will cut blackberries, and next spring work on the bank behind the Fire Hall will be completed.
Engineer Wayne Shilts is working on plans to deal with a 90-degree turn at Sweet Home Inn, Lewis said. The turn needs to be softened to slow water down and control erosion.