can do anything they want with this property.  We could have put in a sewer treatment plant, or a trailer park. You should be happy with what we are planning."

For some reason the Riverclub residents were less than pleased with what he had to tell them.

David Bates also lives on 4th.  He appreciates the beauty of the bicycle trail and loves the trees that are across from his home.  He pointed to a large Oak and commented that it was probably a couple of hundred years old.  "These trees do a lot to eliminate noise.  It is really quiet here.  Any trees taken down will impact the noise level in this area. I am not sure if the people realize that the trucks and construction vehicles will be traveling all the way from I street on 4th, since our little bridge would not be able to stand their weight." 

Larry and Cheryl Kanzier are also 4th street residents.  They took the time to write a formal letter to the St. Helens Planning Commission.
In his letter Larry estimated that there will be as many as 1000 truck trips to haul dirt to and from the building site.  He stated that each dump truck will weigh in excess of 80,000 pounds far and away exceeding the engineering specifications of 4th street.
He recommends that the St. Helens Planning Commission deny their cities Conditional Use Permit application and direct the City of St. Helens Planning Administrator to reconvene the public process and address the negative impacts to the local community.  He also suggests that they investigate alternative locations to site this project and alternative access and egress routes thus avoiding extra costs and reduce their potential for unnecessary litigation.

Joyce Heller is a realtor. She is a resident of River Club Estates and cares about her community.  Joyce has devoted a great deal of her time and put considerable effort into trying to make her community a better place to live. She feels that the value of the homes in the area will decrease if the City of St. Helens builds a water treatment center on the proposed site. She is worried about the elimination of trees, the impact to the roads, the increase in noise, and possible environmental problems that might be associated with the use of chlorine and other toxic chemicals.  Chemicals that are used with water treatment systems.  She is hoping that good sense will prevail and that St. Helens will find an alternative site for their water system.

Columbia Cities Administrator, Leahnette Rivers, is friendly, outgoing and very much into the business of her City..  She was aware of St. Helens plans, but didn't seem to think that it would have an adverse effect.  She was helpful, and seemed very concerned.  She said: "It never occurred to us that people would be upset.  We also didn't  know that you people weren't notified by St. Helens.  Evidently the City of St. Helens didn't do all of it's homework."
She seemed a bit amused at St. Helens, since they had not yet made any attempts to enter into any formal discussions with Columbia City.
"St. Helens would like to use our sewer system and storm drain system when they back wash.  They will have to make a formal request to the Columbia City Council.  Our city ordinances do not allow for services outside of our City limits; not without special Council approval.

Ginger Allen commented to Leahnette about the noise.  "They say that 60 decibels isn't very loud, but if I played a radio at 60 DB the cops would come .  Do you really think that it should be O.K for a water treatment plant?"

The people who live in River Club Estates, like their nice neighborhood.  To quote one of the neighbors  "we have just started to fight.  If the City of St. Helens thinks that we will just roll and play dead, they had better think twice."