Work expected to begin Jan. 2
By:Vanessa S. Holt
CHESTERFIELD Work on the sewer system that will serve a portion of the township has begun and the system should be online by the summer, said township officials last week.
Construction on a pumping station at Meadowbrook Drive is underway and work on the force mains was expected to begin Jan. 2, said Township Engineer Nancy Jamanow at the Dec. 27 Township Committee meeting.
A date has not yet been set for work on the gravity mains or for work at the Albert. C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility, which will supply sewerage capacity to the township.
The sewer system will serve 158 homes in the village of Crosswicks and a new planned village center where development in the township will be concentrated.
Residents who will be served by the sewer are required to connect within 120 days of the official notice they will receive when the system is completed.
Residents served by the sewer must pay a $4,850 connection fee, although a $74,000 county grant will be used to assist some low- or moderate-income families.
Customers also will pay a quarterly fee of $64 and will be billed for water consumption at the rate of $1.90 per 1,000 gallons.
The total annual cost is estimated at $500 per household.
The township must now determine how to manage sewer operations, maintenance and billing, said Township Solicitor John Gillespie.
The township has previously discussed its options for sewer billing and operations with Hamilton-based Consumers New Jersey Water Company, but they need to put together specific criteria before going out to bid for the project, said Ms. Jamanow.
"We don’t know how many connections there will be in the beginning," said Ms. Jamanow.
She said the township could contract a licensed operator for the system at the outset or wait for a year to "get the kinks out of the system" before handing over operations.
The Township Committee adopted an ordinance at its Dec. 27 meeting to eliminate an overlay in the planned village district that would have allowed for either one house per 10 acres according to agricultural standards in the township, or for denser development laid out in the Master Plan which could allow for as many as 1,200 houses in the township’s receiving area.
The overlay was created when the township was not yet certain if it would have a sewer system to serve a denser population, but the overlay is unnecessary now that the sewer is expected to be in place within the year, said township officials.