At last night’s city council meeting Newberg’s new city council cancelled plans for the Bell West Pump Station that was to be built at the intersection of N College St. and NE Bell Rd. This is the 2nd meeting since the newly elected counselors took the oath of office.
Newberg City Manager Will Worthey made a recommendation to the Council to halt further work on the Pump Station in order to save an estimated $900,000 that can now be redirected to the more urgently needed water treatment plant upgrade project scheduled to begin in 2025.
The Bell West Pump Station project was originally approved in 2020 and was to be built on property that would have been purchased from North Valley Friends Church. However, since the area that would have been served by the new pump station lies principally outside of current City limits and since developments in that area of the urban reserve / UGB expansion have not been initiated, Newberg’s city staff and management argued that the pump station was not needed at this time. City management also recommended that the cost of a pump station to support future development should be paid for by the developers.
The Newberg City Council agreed with the staff recommendations and voted unanimously to cancel the project and redirect the money to the new water treatment plant.
