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Go-ahead on sewers would open development
(by Joseph Koziol Jr. - August 31, 2011)
Go-ahead on sewers would open development
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
Chardon City Council is on target to give the go-ahead next week to sanitary and storm-sewer work that is would open two large areas of the city to development.
City Council's water and sewer committee reviewed options last week for the work that could begin by 2014. The committee voted unanimously to recommend that council move forward with an estimated $2.56 million plan for installation of sewers.
The matter is scheduled to go before council Sept. 8.
The sewers will serve an approximately 150-acre parcel at the northwest corner of the city off Center Street (Route 44), owned by Richard M. Osborne. The property is a mix of industrial and residential property, although some commercial use is being proposed. A second parcel, approximately 44 acres owned by Roger Loecy, is former industrial land that was rezoned for residential development in 2005 by City Council.
Gayland Moore, the city's public service director, said Mr. Loecy has inquired twice every year about when the city will be able to provide sewers to his property.
The sewers, intended to serve the northern end of the city, are something the city has been looking at since the 1970s.
"I've wanted to do this for years," Mr. Moore said. "I want a vote."
Although Mr. Moore did not have a vote and it was not needed as the committee gave the plan its full vote, the plan is a deviation from one that the city had been looking at since 1970.
City Engineer Douglas Courtney said cost alone should steer officials away from that earlier plan. An estimated cost for bringing sewers through the northern reaches of the city could run in the neighborhood of $3.66 million.
The project that is approximately $1 million less also provides other benefits for the city, he said. Rather than stretching out the project along the northern tier, he said, it would be brought south along Center Street to existing sewers at Cherry and Water streets and then follow the old railroad right of way south to the area of the Geauga Park District's Maple Highlands Trail off South Street (Route 44).
City Manager Randal Sharpe said the less expensive option also allows the city to increase the size of existing sewers, which back up in heavy rains.
Mr. Courtney said that work would precede a second phase that will bring sewers to the Loecy property. The initial phase must be done to alleviate some of the flow going to the Bridgewater pump station, which is nearly operating at capacity. Businesses on Industrial Parkway, he said, would be able to abandon individual private lift stations when that phase is complete.
Mr. Courtney said the plan from the 1970s, which would have gone along the northern stretch of the city, would have involved sewers up to 40 feet deep. He said that likely would involve getting into bedrock, which may increase the cost further. In addition, he said, the city's sewer department does not have the capability of maintaining sewers that deep.
Councilwoman Leslie Bednar said the second, less costly option, has "a lot of common sense to it."
Mr. Sharpe said the city will receive some financial participation by Mr. Loecy on the costs for the second phase of option two. However, he said, virtually all of the cost for phase one will be borne by the city.
The committee recommended that the city funding for the project is through the Ohio Public Works Commission with grants and loans.
Any money spent by the city for engineering and obtaining easements along the route will be borne by the city, Mr. Sharpe said.
Mayor Philip King said the engineering and easements must be done, even if the city has to pay, to allow the city to move quickly on the plan. "On a priority basis, this ranks pretty high in the things that have to be done," Mr. King said.
Mr. Sharpe said the city would apply for the funding at the end of 2012 with the hope of being awarded the monies by July 2013.
Mr. Courtney said the second option is 50 percent of the cost of option one and would address capacity issues on existing sewers.
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