01-24-2000 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES FOR JANUARY 10,2000 (#5A) SEWER ASSESSMENT/COST ALLOCA TION POLICY - Continued Also, where there is not a significant threat to public health, a sewer project should only be built if the property owners believe the full per unit cost of the project is equal to the per unit benefit of the project. Peterson said she concurs with staff s recommendation regarding the City ’s Sewer Assessment Policy. Kelley said he concurs with part of the staff recommendation. He said he is in favor of the City funding the trunk line costs, and all properties pay the trunk costs as a connection charge when they connect to the trunk line. Jabbour said he likes the current policy. He feels the residents of Fox Hill may have been lead to believe that the City will pay $60,000 of that project, but that is not true. He suggested the Council vote on the policy as it exists and direct staff to prepare a 20 or 50 year plan identifying some very major trunk lines, not smaller lines through neighborhoods. Moorse said that when other cities do a trunk line and they identify how their city is going to develop, they know that ever>’ house that develops in their city will have sewer. In Orono, there are many properties that currently have a septic system and an alternate site, so they may never hook up to the sewer system. Kelley said the City needs a 20 or 30-year plan showing where the trunk lines should be located. Flint said the City is planning a lot of sewer lines that are caused by the new rules that were adopted with the 3-foot separation. With the way the State and the County are changing tht rules all the time, he doesn’t know which set of rules the City should plan under. Orono ’s policy has been to go slow on sewers. If the City puts in some major trunk lines and has that kind of money tied up in them, the City will be changing its basic policy. Kelley said he concurs with Jabbour. He believes the State and County will get even more restrictive in the future, not less restrictive, about on-site septic. He feels that part of the City ’s policy should be a plan for 20 or 30 years down the road. He reviewed the areas that are now in the MUSA line. Jabbour said he just feels the Council left the citizens with the WTong impression. He said a two- inch force main is not a trunk line. Flint asked if Jabbour wants to see a plan that shows where trunk lines should be located only in the areas that the City knows will have to have sewer in the future. Jabbour said that is correct. Page 14