Residents of secluded neighborhood slammed by sewer and water projects costs | Home & Garden

PORTLAND, Ore. – The official name of the neighborhood is Deltawood, but long-time locals and residents have called it Snoozy’s Hollow for as long as most people in the small Northeast Portland neighborhood can remember.

But Snoozy’s Hollow is now a center of controversy, ever since the City of Portland decided to upgrade the sewer and water systems and stuck residents with the bill.

Residents say the city’s bill for improving water and sewer service is more than some of the houses are worth.

Most of the 41 home in the small neighborhood tucked into North Portland’s vast industrial spaces were built around World War II and are a far cry from the high-priced dwellings closer to downtown.

One home recently sold for $25,000. Another is valued at a little more than $40,000.

$20,000 is roughly the same cost the city is passing on to residents for the waterworks upgrade, the total cost of which is close to $1 million.

Most of the homes now share water service through a single water meter, an arrangement that has been in place for decades. That arrangement is about to change.

“We own the streets, we own the sewer,” local resident  Kay Williford told KATU News. “This is kind of like a condo, so they're charging us. And this is going to be like a $1 million project on people who can't even pay their  $103 to $150 dollar homeowners [association] dues."

City officials said they have already dropped $40,000 off the cost of the project in a bid to keep costs low and residents have been offered financing plans that stretch the payments out over 20 years.

Many residents told KATU News that they might be forced to walk away from their homes and let them go into foreclosure. They say the tab for the project is something that they did not incur and cannot afford.