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City not in hurry to extend sewers
(by Sue Reid - March 11, 2010)
City not in hurry to extend sewers
By SUE REID
Until the city is faced with development, Solon's Public Works Director James S. Stanek asked the public works committee last week that discussion of extending sanitary sewer service to those residents living along Chagrin River Road in Solon end for now.
"The project doesn't make sense until development is involved," Mr. Stanek said.
He and members of the committee revisited the discussion regarding extending sanitary-sewer service to that area.
"This is the largest potential unsewered area left in the city," Mr. Stanek said. Currently, the eight homes on the road are on septic systems. Chagrin River Road is one of a few isolated areas where the city does not have sanitary service.
But sewers in the area are not a viable project for the city at this time, Mr. Stanek said.
He recalled for the committee the options consultants Camp Dresser and McKee gave for the potential sewers on the road. The city had committed to re-studying the area after inquiries from a resident on the road.
The consultants' report detailed installing sanitary service on the road for both existing property and future development. They designed the option to cover a potential of up to 100 homes.
One alternative presented by the consultants was the connection to Solon's sanitary-sewer system. That consisted of constructing a lift station.
"We would have to micro tunnel under the Chagrin River to get to Solon's existing gravity sewer system on Glasgow Court," Mr. Stanek said. "We would have needed an easement to do that."
The second alternative was to take the connection directly down Chagrin River Road. This scenario involved two lift stations," Mr. Stanek said. "That would have taken it ultimately to Geauga County's waste-water plant at McFarland Creek.
"Both options were extremely expensive," Mr. Stanek said, carrying price tags of over $2 million.
"There's no compelling reason for us to sewer at this time, but it will probably happen one day in the future because of development," he said.
This would place a hardship on the residents if they were required to pay a portion of the cost, Chagrin River Road resident John Hallberg, who was in attendance at the meeting, said. Those costs have escalated, he said.
Mr. Hallberg said this could have been avoided if developers of Chagrin Highlands would have been required by the city to meet commitments under the law with regard to bringing full utility improvements to the property line.
"We will endure a hardship that could have been avoided," Mr. Hallberg said of residents. He also said he is not looking to put sewers in as an assessment project for his property. His preference is to keep his property out of development.
"I'm not pressing you to do anything," Mr. Hallberg told the committee. That is unless sewers are mandated for the area.
Mr. Stanek said that most likely easements would need to be obtained if any development would occur in that area. "We see the need to acquire those at some point in time," he said.
"I'm not pressing for you to buy an easement from me," Mr. Hallberg said.
"Dose the committee and council want to pursue this now or when it needs to?" Mr. Stanek said is a question to be considered.
Councilman and committee member William D. Mooney asked why the city would spend money on easements if sewers are not a viable project.
"Why do it if a project is not in front of us?" Mr. Mooney asked.
"Until we've got a developer coming forward, we don't need to talk about sanitary sewers," Mr. Stanek said.
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