Officials plan to extend sewer lines to Melzena and Adeline streets because of problems with some of the homes' septic tanks.

However, several residents told the township supervisors on Thursday that their septic tanks work just fine. They also don't want to shell out extra money to tap into the system and install grinder pumps, which reduce sewage to finely ground particles.

Gary Deily, who has lived on Melzena Street for 40 years, suggested residents could tap into a sewer line that uses one pump station for the entire street, similar to other areas of the township.

Deily and others are concerned that the grinder pumps might malfunction, leaving them with more problems.

"We want (municipal) sewerage," Deily said. "We just want the right kind of sewerage."

Township officials said a central pump isn't possible for that area because of the elevation and the proximity of the homes to the proposed sewer line.

The project is moving ahead now because the township recently succeeded in getting a $200,000 grant for the $250,000 project.

The township plans to seek additional grant funds in an effort to pay for the project and ease the financial burden on residents.

The township began seeking funding in 2007 after receiving a letter from the Allegheny County Health Department, which stated that, of 13 Melzena Street properties the department surveyed, three septic tanks were leaking to the surface and seven had site limitations that precluded repairs.

The health department requested that the township determine the feasibility and cost of extending public sewage lines to the area.

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Springdale Township sewer project troubles some residents

Facility serves North Hampton State Beach

HAMPTON Residents voted Tuesday to allow the state Division of Parks and Recreation to connect a facility to the town's sewer system, paving the way for a new bathhouse at North Hampton State Beach.

Hampton warrant Article 19 passed, 2,611-596.

If all goes as planned, the new $450,000 bathhouse would be operational by summer 2013.

The septic system for the current bathrooms failed years ago, and it was replaced with a holding tank that had to be emptied so frequently that the state was forced at one point to close the bathrooms and use portable toilets. The new bathhouse would have three urinals and two toilets for men, and five toilets for women. It would also house a family restroom.

State Sen. Nancy Stiles, R-Hampton, urged voters to support the article, calling the sewer connection critical for North Hampton State Beach. If the state was not allowed to connect to the town's sewer system, the plan would have been to instead install composting toilets. Stiles said she worked to bring the state, North Hampton, Hampton and Rye together on the project because she opposed the idea of composting toilets.

Rye is involved because one of its sewer pipes, which runs through North Hampton to Hampton, would be used to make the connection. Hampton already provides sewer service to more than 500 homes and businesses in Rye, based on a 1989 agreement. Hampton selectmen backed Article 19, saying it wouldn't cost taxpayers a dime.

Per the agreement signed by the towns and the state, the town will bill Rye per gallon, under terms of the 1989 pact, and will share capital expenses. The flow from the North Hampton State Beach bathhouse will be metered, and Rye will bill the state.

Tom Mansfield, an architect with the state Department of Resources and Economic Development, said the state plans to begin construction of a pumping station at the North Hampton site soon, with the laying of new plumbing in the spring. Work would stop for the summer so patrons could use the existing bathhouse, which will be demolished in the fall.

Mansfield estimated 50,000 gallons of wastewater per season would enter the Hampton system through the North Hampton connection the equivalent of wastewater generated in one three-bedroom house.

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Hampton voters OK state park connection to sewer system

By JEFFREY SIMMONS/Staff

The plant may be traded for a pump.

On March 7, Bland Countys Service Authority decided to look at pumping Blands sewage to Bastian instead of building a new treatment plant in Bland.

The latter idea has raised the ire of landowners whove said a new treatment plant not far from the courthouse would detract from the communitys natural beauty and raise taxes.

County Administrator Eric Workman said engineers would immediately start figuring out if its possible to send the wastewater to the existing treatment plant in Bastian and how much it would cost. That plant releases treated waste into Wolf Creek.

The county has estimated that it would cost $10 million to build the new treatment plant and install lines and $11 million to install the lines and pump station.

If the county pumps the waste, it would save money in the long-term by not having to hire two or three new employees, Workman said.

A pump station would probably be built near the fairgrounds and not on the county-owned land where the new plant was supposed to go.

Theyre not very large facilities, he said.

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Bland County looking at sewer pump station instead of plant

SCOTT TWP. - About 100 residents and business owners will run the risk of hefty fines if they do not get permits allowing them to hook up to the township's new sewer system.

So far, a little more than 750 users have hooked into the Scott Twp.'s sewer system, an $18.4 million project that addresses concerns from the state Department of Environmental Protection about malfunctioning septic systems polluting Chapman Lake and Griffin Pond.

The sewer authority set Dec. 1 as a deadline for hooking up to the system. Users who did not hook up by the deadline face up to $1,000 in fines a month, but the authority has not taken any action against people who have not hooked up to the system.

At a meeting Tuesday, sewer authority Chairman Mike Grant said letters giving the 100 or so users who have still not obtained a permit from the township to hook up to the system 30 days to comply or risk facing fines.

The new sewer system will serve about 1,250 households and businesses in the township, though the exact number of sewer users is still being determined.

Also still unclear is whether the sewer authority will have enough money to finish the sewer project. At Wednesday's meeting, residents complained about the conditions of roads and yards in different areas of the township, saying contractors caused the damage as they worked to install sewer lines and have not yet repaired it permanently.

Sewer authority members have promised to look into the areas mentioned at Wednesday's meeting.

"The roads are a big issue at this point," Mr. Grant said after the meeting. "Everyone has an opinion as to who is responsible."

Contact the writer: enissley@timesshamrock.com

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Scott Sewer Authority to send out warning letters

SENECA Sewer authority officials asked Thursday for an opinion from the Oconee County Council on reordering the priorities for sewer projects for years to come.

We want to work with you, Greg Dietterick, chairman of the Oconee Joint Regional Sewer Authority planning and policy committee, told county administrator Scott Moulder.

Moulders appearance before the committee Thursday had been as a move to mend the sometimes sour relations between the sewer authority and the county.

At the committees request, Moulder will consult with county council members about prioritizing proposed sewer projects with an eye toward spawning economic development and job creation.

Many of the projects on a list compiled 10 years ago, such as the Martin Creek expansion and a septic receiving station, can be struck off the list, said Dietterick, who also is Seneca city administrator. The $6.2 million Martin Creek expansion is due for completion within two months. The receiving station is expected to be completed this year.

Another project from 10 years ago, Dietterick said, could be made irrelevant by a sewer line the School District of Oconee County plans to install up S.C. 11 to the site of the new Walhalla High School, scheduled for completion in 2015.

Highest on the county councils list, Moulder said, will be sewer service to the countys Golden Corner Commerce Park, off S.C. 59 near Fair Play, and to exits 2 and 4 on Interstate 85.

Recently completed engineering studies, Moulder said, estimate that between $8 million and $8.5 million could install lines and pump stations at the commerce park and both exits, with a force mainline installed up S.C. 59 back to the sewer authoritys treatment plant on Coneross Creek.

A portion of the money, Moulder said, was expected to come from the downsizing of the countys plans for a new jail from an facility costing an estimated $18.6 million to one estimated at about $8 million.

The county has already issued bonds for $17 million to fund the jail project, with the money banked until a final decision about the jail is reached.

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Oconee sewer authority says it wants to work with county

ROBBINSVILLE The Township Council voted down a $1.6 million project to bring sewer lines to 30 homes in the Buckley Lane area after many of the affected residents balked at the special sewer assessments they would have to pay.

The ordinance unanimously rejected by the council on Feb. 23 would have paid for the project by issuing $1.52 million in bonds, along with an $80,000 township appropriation as the down payment for the borrowing.

The $1.52 million in borrowed money plus interest would have had to be repaid through a special sewer assessment on the 31 affected property owners. (One lot is vacant township-owned land and the rest are private homes on Buckley Lane and Robbinsville-Edinburg Road near the high school). The assessment worked out to about $50,000 per home payable over 20 years.

The council introduced the ordinance in January under the apparent mistaken impression that they were doing what residents, many of whom have failing septic systems, wanted. But 11 affected homeowners who met with Council President Chris Ciaccio and Township Administrator/Engineer Tim McGough on Feb. 21, and then turned out two nights later at the council meeting, complained a $50,000 per home assessment, even if was payable over two decades, was too high.

That is a financial burden that most of us cannot keep up with, Justin Kinne, of Buckley Lane, told the council during the public hearing, which was held in the Senior Center to accommodate the crowd.

Sam Campi, another Buckley Lane resident, also spoke against the ordinance. Mr. Campi noted that only his septic tank was in need of replacement, not his entire septic system, so all he needed to spend was about $5,000.

If I was to change my tank, I can expect 25 years out of it, Mr. Campi said. Im 71 years old ... I dont need to spend $50,000.

The residents who spoke at the meeting said they would rather wait for the developer of the proposed Edinburg Village tract on Robbinsville-Edinburg Road to install sewer lines that the existing homes in the Buckley Lane area neighborhood could tap into without having to pay for sewer construction costs. The downside to this solution, however, is that Edinburg Village is probably not going to break ground for at least two or three years, perhaps longer.

Township Attorney Mark Roselli said at the council meeting the developer of the project is amenable to allowing Buckley Lane area homes to tie into the new sewer lines for free because he wants to be granted a housing density bonus.

A 2009 demographers report on projected housing starts in Robbinsville, which was prepared for the school district using data from the towns construction, planning and zoning offices, lists Edinburg Village as 49 single-family homes on Robbinsville-Edinburg Road and Meadowbrook Road. It was not clear how much of a density bonus the developer was seeking or how much the town might allow.

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ROBBINSVILLE: Buckley Lane area sewer project dumped

WESTERLY -- Officials studying the possibility of extending the town’s sewer system to Misquamicut hope to deliver their findings next month.

The plans will be discussed during a Public Works Committee meeting scheduled for March 8 at 5 p.m. Officials said the Planning Board and the Economic Development Commission will be invited to the meeting. The plans will later be presented to the Town Council and to the Misquamicut Fire District.

Town Councilor Christopher Duhamel, a member of an ad-hoc group studying the sewer proposal, said current estimates put the cost of the project between $20 million and $23 million, including a 10 percent contingency for possible overruns or unanticipated costs. The cost would be borne by residents of the Misquamicut Fire District and the owners of businesses to be served by the system, Duhamel said.

A lawyer representing some of the business owners said his clients were willing to pay “substantially more” of the cost of the system than what residents would pay.

Town Manager Steven Hartford said that if approved, the town could use a revolving loan fund administered by the Rhode Island Clean Water Finance Agency. Previously, when the sewer system has been extended into new neighborhoods, the cost of a bond issue was split between the town and the affected property owners.

Under the plan being developed for Misquamicut, Hartford said businesses that benefit from the project would pay “a substantially larger share than under conventional methods” to pay off the loan.

This latest proposal to bring sewers to Misquamicut was prompted by a state law and Department of Environmental Management rules requiring owners of property within 200 feet of a coastal shoreline feature, including salt ponds, to install costly denitrification septic systems to replace cesspools, Duhamel said.

Additionally, DEM refused to allow the town to participate in a loan program that would have helped property owners with the cost of replacing cesspool systems, saying the loan program would not be made available because of a town plan which calls for the eventual installation of sewers at Misquamicut.

Since the ad-hoc group started its work, DEM has indicated a willingness to modify the rules, allowing for systems that cost less than the $30,000 denitrification systems. The proposed new rules remain in the draft stage.

Misquamicut falls within the town’s sewer district but residents have resisted efforts to extend the line to the beach area. Voters rejected plans to establish sewers in the area at referendums in 1984 and 2000. Other attempts have also lost steam over the years.

The town’s wastewater treatment plant on Margin Street has sufficient capacity to handle the addition of sewers at Misquamicut, Duhamel said, adding that sewers would play an integral role in protecting the salt ponds from excessive nutrient loading which boosts algae growth and reduces oxygen for fish and plants.

The project’s cost estimates are based on reports by BETA Group, Inc., a Lincoln-based engineering firm that provides sewer consultation to the town, and Pare Corp., a Lincoln-based engineering firm hired by a group of Misquamicut business owners. Duhamel said the two firms have proposed slightly different systems.

If the project gains support, Duhamel said on-going drainage work on Atlantic Avenue would be concluded with a temporary patch to the road, which could be easily removed for the construction of sewers. Once the sewers are in place a permanent cover, which is budgeted as part of the drainage project, would finish the roadway.

Attorney Thomas Liguori represents the owners of the Andrea Hotel, Pleasant View Inn, Maria’s Seaside Café, Breezeway Resort, and the Ocean Blue Motel, all of whom are “willing to accept a larger share of the cost than typical,” he said.

Liguori said he also represents other business owners, who are also supporting the sewer proposal, though he declined to name the others. Additionally, Liguori said another local lawyer represents other shoreline businesses that would be affected by the sewer proposal.

Duhamel has provided periodic status updates on the ad-hoc group’s work to the Town Council. Hartford wrote to property owners affected by the state law and DEM regulations in September, informing them that the town is studying the possibility of extending the sewer system into their area.

dfaulkner@thewesterlysun.com

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Misquamicut sewer plans offered

STEUBENVILLE - Jefferson County commissioners on Thursday signed contracts for the $8.9 million Crestview-Belvedere sewer project, which will allow work to begin in April.

A $6,430,989 contract was signed with Rudzik Excavating of Struthers for the sewer line installation and a $2,551,000 contract with Utility Contracting Inc. of Youngstown for the pump stations.

The county has been under a state mandate for decades to install sewer lines because of faulty septic tanks.

The county had received $5.28 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture grants and $5.55 million in low-interest loans for the project that will serve about 330 homes.

Shannan Gosbin, county water and sewer department director, said the county will sign loans with the USDA in March and work should begin in April.

Commissioners also approved $53,186 in attorney fees for indigent persons facing criminal charges in common pleas court for February. The county auditor's office reported that is the largest amount the county has ever had to pay for a month.

The county spent a total of $195,000 in 2011 for attorney fees, the auditor's office reported.

The county receives a 35 percent reimbursement from the state for the attorney fees.

Commissioners also received a prosecutor's opinion concerning a water line installation at the new hangars at the county airport. The prosecutor's office stated the county water and sewer department will use crews during normal business hours to install the line. There was an issue of whether the county airport authority would have to pay for the labor costs. It still hasn't been determined if the county water and sewer department or the airport authority will pay for the materials.

County Commissioner Thomas Graham said the prosecutor's opinion is clear on who assumes the labor costs.

The commissioners also:

Signed a road maintenance agreement with Chesapeake Energy for Sugar Grove Road (county Road 68). The agreement states the company will upgrade 1.2 miles of the road north of the intersection of state Route 152 to the gas well site. County Engineer James Branagan said Chesapeake will upgrade and widen the road. Once work is completed, Branagan said the county will waive the road bond requirement.

Signed a road maintenance agreement with Utica Gas Services, a subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy, for the installation of gas transmission lines throughout the county. Branagan said the company will be drilling under county roads and hauling large amounts of pipes along roads. David Oaks of the engineering company for the gas lines said work will take about six months. He said the company wants to be released from agreement once the pipeline is operating.

County Commissioner Tom Gentile said the county and Chesapeake have completed a water line tap near the company's gas well site off state Route 152 outside Richmond. The county is selling water at a rate of $7.50 per 1,000 gallons of water. Chesapeake also is buying water from Steubenville for the fracking of the well. The water pressure on the county water line off state Route 152 would have been lowered if all the water for the well fracking was taken from the county water line.

Gentile said he wants to explore the county building a concrete pad and water tap along its main water transmission line off county Road 43 for water to be sold to the gas drilling industry. He said the trucks need a safe place to pull off the road to fill up.

Declared March as Developmental Disabilities Month in the county.

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County signs sewer contracts

After receiving approval from town leaders more than a year ago to expand its 200 Otis St. store, the local Walmart is close to breaking ground.

Spokesman Christopher Buchanan said yesterday that Wal-Mart is accepting bids to expand the store into one of the chain’s “supercenters.” Construction is expected to begin sometime in the spring, he said, and last about a year.

“With a full-service grocery component and everyday low prices, the Northborough supercenter will bring a new shopping opportunity for the community,” Buchanan said.

The grocery section will feature fresh local produce, frozen foods, a bakery, a deli, a meat department and a dairy department, he said, as well as more than 30 aisles of general merchandise offerings.

The retail giant received approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals last January to expand the building by about 50,000 square feet on the north and east sides, and add about 150 parking spaces as well.

When finished, the building will occupy 173,371 square feet and have 787 parking spaces, according to plans filed with the town. The store will remain open during construction.

Wal-Mart has bought a neighboring building that will be razed for more parking space. Parking spaces per square foot will decrease overall, from 5.14 spaces per 1,000 square feet to 4.54, according to the plans.

The company will also move its garden center and renovate the entrance to the building.

In response to town officials’ concerns about safety, the Walmart store will install a traffic table — a 6-inch raised platform, like a big speed bump, designed to slow drivers — at the Otis Street entrance.

Town Engineer Fred Litchfield said last week that plans for sewage have changed since last year, which may in part be responsible for the reason why construction hasn’t started yet.

Wal-Mart had originally planned to expand the septic system, Litchfield said, but decided to tie into the town’s sewer system instead.

“Sewer is always better than septic because it’s forever,” Litchfield said.

That process has taken about six months, said Town Planner Kathy Joubert, and will ultimately result in Wal-Mart agreeing to pay a betterment fee to the town to tie into the system.

Buchanan said his company has secured approval to tie into the system and is looking forward to the expansion.

“Wal-Mart is very excited to be able to save our Northborough-area customers money so they can live better,” he said.

(Brad Petrishen can be reached at 508-490-7463 or bpetrishen@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @Brad_Petrishen.)

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Northborough Walmart to begin expansion soon

Ahead of a review by town officials, Westport Weston Family Y leaders on Wednesday sought to rally support for a plan to connect the Y's new home at the Mahackeno Outdoor Center in northwest Westport to the town's sewer system.

"We think this will be good for the community," Family Y Chief Executive Officer Rob Reeves told a public forum on the proposal. "This is our preference, and we think it's the right thing to do."

The Y is seeking permission to build a 2,500-lineal-foot line, which would run north from the intersection of Oak Street and Clinton Avenue, then west along Calumet Road and Calumet Lane, under the Saugatuck River, to its new center planned at the Mahackeno property. Construction of the new 55,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to begin in October.

While most of the line would be pressurized, it would be gravity-operated under Clinton Avenue.

The sewer extension would also include a pumping station on the north bank of Poplar Plains Brook, near the Saugatuck River, Reeves said.

Linking to the town's sewer system would offer a more environmentally conscious option compared to installing a septic system at the 32-acre Mahackeno site, Y leaders said. A sewer connection would save more than 100 trees, which would have to be cut down to install an on-site wastewater-treatment facility at Mahackeno, according to a Feb. 16 statement from the Y. Building a sewer line to Mahackeno would also protect the Saugatuck River, as wastewater from the new facility would be transported to the town's sewage-treatment plant on Elaine Road, Y officials said.

That treatment facility's current capacity would not be strained by the Mahackeno sewer extension, said Land-Tech Consultants partner Peter Romano.

Y leaders also argued that the project would benefit some neighboring residents, who could connect to the new line without incurring assessment fees for installing the sewer extension.

Instead, residents connecting with the town sewer system along the new route would only pay for sewer use, Romano said.

The Y has already secured town and state approval to install a septic system at the Mahackeno Outdoor Center. Y leaders said Wednesday they decided, in part, not to apply for a sewer connection when their initial application was before town and state boards several years ago because that request would entail amending the town's "blue line," which delineates the extent of the town's sewer system. Seeking such a change would have prolonged the approval process for the new complex, Y leaders added.

Certain conditions of the town's approval of a septic system at Mahackeno have also made a sewer connection a more advantageous wastewater-treatment option, Y leaders said. One of those prerequisites, for instance, mandates that the Y deposit a cash bond in a town account equivalent to the cost of installing a septic system at Mahackeno, an estimated $1.2 million, Romano said.

Installing a sewer line to Mahackeno would not affect the construction schedule of the new Y center, Reeves added.

About 20 residents attended Wednesday's forum at the Y's current center in downtown Westport. Several attendees expressed support for the Y's proposed sewer connection.

"From an environmental and economic point of view, this is really desirable," said Marty Yellin. "It's much safer than what we had approved."

The Y's Mahackeno sewer connection application will first be reviewed by the Board of Selectmen acting in its capacity as the town's Water Pollution Control Authority during a public hearing scheduled for the first week of April.

In addition to the selectmen, the Y will also seek approval for a Mahackeno sewer connection from the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Conservation Commission and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

If the project wins approval from all those bodies, construction of the new sewer line would likely begin in early 2013, Y leaders added.

pschott@bcnnew.com; 203-255-4561, ext. 118.

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Plan for Mahackeno Y sewer connection outlined for public