Bandon Dunes Case Study Famous for its views, world-class golf courses and burgeoning cranberry industry, Oregon's picturesque South Coast town of Brandon is also a magnet for tourists and retiring baby boomers. Recent growth in the town's service and retirement industries, though, means one thing for builders in the area: a need for more housing.

Traditionally, Bandon's homes have been built one at a time, but an unprecedented residential project has put 32 homes on the market at once.

Planning the Project

Bandon Commons is a planned community located on 16 acres of woodland, just across the street from Bandon's world-famous white sand beaches. Phase I was completed in August and consists of 32 homes on five acres. The houses, a mix of attached and detached structures, have individual driveways, high-end finishes and access to a community wetland. Phase II plans are still being worked out by the developer, which is the ownership and design team of the nearby Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.

The city of Bandon designated Bandon Commons as a planned unit development, which allowed for a higher density of homes. "Bandon Commons has much more of an urban feel to it than the rest of the city,
says Eric Stevens, project manager for Portland-based Walsh Construction, the contractor on the job. "It's higher density, and provides a real economical use of the resources there.

"It's really the first project of this magnitude for Bandon, but we anticipate similar types of development as this one goes online.

Eying the Infrastructure

One of the integral components of the new development is a wastewater lift station, paid for by the developer, installed by Walsh Construction, and owned and operated by the city of Bandon.

The residential area is lower in elevation than the city's sewer lines, precluding the use of a traditional gravity-fed system. Instead, wastewater from homes in the development is collected at the lift station, and then pumped up into sewer lines leading to the city's treatment plant.

The lift station was supplied by Romtec Utilities of Roseburg, Ore., which manufactures complete pre-engineered systems, with all components-the wet well, valve vault, electrical controls and standby power-for wastewater, stormwater and industrial pumping applications.

"We were on a fairly tight time schedule and people here didn't have a lot of experience with lift stations, so I felt Romtec would be a good match,
says Steve Major, Bandon's reviewing engineer. Major is the president of The Dyer Partnership, an engineering firm specializing in water and wastewater for municipalities along the coast.

Since the lift station was pre-engineered, with Romtec providing all structural, mechanical, electrical and communications components, the costly design step was eliminated. And the approach meant that the lift station arrived at the Bandon site in one shipment, ready for installation.

For Stevens, the project manager, the Bandon Commons lift station was his first. "One of the reasons we went with Romtec was their reputation and their ability to deliver a turnkey system,
Stevens says.

Engineering the Aesthetics

When it came time to plan for the lift station, site design was an important consideration. Developers wanted the lift station to blend in with the rest of the carefully designed buildings, and they didn't want to devote more of the precious ground than they needed to.

In the end, the lift station was located on a 30x30-foot lot in the middle of the development. Walsh Construction built an 18x18-foot building to house the electrical controls, 45kw standby generator and odor control system.

Stevens says he was a little apprehensive at first about the installation. "There's always the uncertainty of whether we'll get all the parts and pieces,
he says. "Installation isn't always intuitive with contractors. But it turned out to be a non-issue-the field support was very good and installation went very quickly.

"The lift station turned out to be an asset to the development,
says Jim Baird, Romtec's technical sales director. Baird provided field support during the two-day start-up and training period. "Aesthetically, it looks like it fits in, and Walsh did a great job of building a structure to house the electrical controls; it looks like the rest of the houses. All in all, it was a sweet project.