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68 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, May 24, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Biz Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend May 14, 2005 Erik Miller and his crew at Pacific North Excavation will dismantle the landmark water tower in White City starting Monday. Two huge cranes will be used to take it apart. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Water tower will fall The White City landmark will be cut up and sold for scrap By MEG LANDERS Mail Tribune After 36 years, a White City landmark is coming down. Two giant cranes will dismantle the 150-foot, 750,000-gallon water tower on Avenue G starting Monday. It will be cut into pieces and sold for scrap. The $234,000 project — a bit more than it cost to build it in 1969 — should last about a week, says the contractor. "We’re going to take the top piece off in three different sections," said Erik Miller of Pacific North Excavation of Grants Pass and Medford. And he brought in the big boys for the job. Two giant cranes, one with a 250-foot boom and one with a 150-foot boom, are in town from Seattle. Advertisement Not everyone’s glad to see the tower come down. Biomass One, a wood waste recovery plant, has been using "We’re under the water tower" as their address for customers for years. "I was halfway considering buying the darned thing," said Gordon Draper, vice president of Biomass One. He said he also looked into putting a sign out on Highway 62, but learned the scenic highway designation won’t allow new signs. He said he’s not sure how they’ll explain to new customers their location — perhaps to look for the steam coming out of the plant. The tower was built in 1969 to provide additional water pressure and firefighting protection for the surrounding industrial area, known as Medford Industrial Park for the name emblazoned on the reservoir. It was built by the White City, Oregon, Water System Inc. for $229,200 and ultimately became property of the Medford Water Commission when it took over the White City system, according to Laura Hodnett, public information coordinator for the Medford Water Commission. Since then, several water lines were added, so the reservoir was no longer essential to the system. The tank partially collapsed in March 2003 after a massive leak in a water main caused water to drain out of the tank faster than air could replace it, crumpling the reservoir’s roof. The water tank was deemed unnecessary and drained. The tower was found to be structurally sound for the time being, but it took two years to figure out what to do with it, said Hodnett. Larry Rains, manager of the water commission, said the commission put out a request for bids several months ago and didn’t get any response. Miller’s company has tackled big demolition jobs such as removing David Culbertson’s vacant Medford warehouse at Front and 11th streets, which burned in 2002. Miller approached the commission recently and said some big cranes were in the state and could do the job right away. But because the project would be covered with public funds, the commission is required to give 14 days of notice for the project and hold a public hearing. So the commission board decided Wednesday to declare this a financial emergency, since the cranes are nearby and it would add sizable time and expense to get them back later, according to Rains. The board decided to go ahead with the removal project and hold a public hearing after — currently scheduled for May 27. "It (the water tower) will probably be down by then," he said. "The public hearing will take input and the commission will ratify what they did." Miller said the crew will try to remove the tank’s roof Monday. Reach reporter Meg Landers at 776-4481 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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