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COUNCU. IAN 0 1 2000REQ^JEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION ^ CITY ur- oouimO DATE: January 10, 2000 ITEM NO.: | Department Approval: Name Gregory A. Gappa Title Director of Public Services Administrator Reviewed:Agenda Section: Engineer's Report Item Description: Public Hearing for East Long Lake Sanitary Sewer Project A preliminary feasibility study was prepared for this project and was presented to the residents at a neighborhood meeting on December 1st. The project contains eleven properties, ten developed parcels and the City of Orono's Summit Beach Park. All eleven of the parcels were used to calculate the project assessments. Summit Beach Park was included to ensure fairness among all of the property owners. This is also a heavily used park and, in the future, the City may wish to consider the installation of rest room facilities in this park. Six of the septic systems in this area are nonconforming to the 3-foot separation rule, with three of these systems failing because of surface discharges or cesspools. The lot sizes in this area vary from ‘A acre to two acres. The three lots with the failing systems range in size from V4 acre to one acre, with inadequate space for a replacement septic system because of steep slopes and wetlands. The other lots with nonconforming septic systems have very limited replacement areas. Unfortunately, most of the lots with conforming septic systems had new septic systems installed during the time period when the new septic regulations were enacted, and before the frnal decisions on the new sewer projects were made. Almost all of the neighborhood residents attended the meeting or contacted staff prior to the meeting. A majority of the property owners, with conforming septic systems, still support the project. However, they have requested exclusion from the project. They are willing to connect at a future date and pay the appropriate connection fee. A majority of the residents with nonconforming septic systems support the project. This is proposed to be a fully assessed sewer project. Two options for sewer were discussed at the neighborhood meeting. A gravity sewer option with a lift station at an estimated cost of $31,000 per unit was discussed. The residents were not interested in this option because of the high cost. The other option presented was for a pressure sewer system at an estimated assessment of $13,900. For this option, the property owners are required to purchase, operate and maintain their own residential grinder pump station. For other pressure sewer system projects, the property owners were allowed to include an allowance in the assessment for the purchase of their grinder pump station. If the residents decide to receive the $4,500 grinder pump allowance, the estimated project cost will be $18,400. The residents are in favor of the pressure sewer system because of the lower cost and less disturbance to the neighborhood.