Mark Dickens urges halt to East Portal transportation hub spending, cites safety and design flaws

Mark Dickens, a Sisters resident, urged the Sisters Planning Commission during the public comment period to stop further spending on the East Portal transportation hub and to investigate what he described as design and construction failures. "I was appalled at how poorly designed and engineered and executed this 1st phase of the project is at over 1,000,000 plus dollars of taxpayer money," Dickens said, and he asked the commission to review oversight and who is responsible for project decisions.

Dickens detailed specific concerns he said he observed at the hub's grand opening: water and ice draining onto the pedestrian walkway from a roof overhang, exposed rafter tails that will rot, restrooms located more than 150 feet from handicap parking requiring crossing a bus lane, and an RV dump and driveway layout that he said creates unsafe bottlenecks and no oversized vehicle parking. "There should be no more money spent on that project of $4,000,000 until these things are corrected," Dickens said. The commission did not take formal action on the comment during the workshop; the remarks were registered during the public comment period.