Township trying to reduce cost by taking on some of road repaving costs
By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Discussions are moving forward to bring sewer service to 40 homes in the southwest part of the township.
About 40 residents could face an expense as high as $35,000-$40,000 over 20 years to extend sanitary sewer service to the 30-year-old development in the area of Camden Road, Winding Way, Spring Valley Drive and Euclid Avenue.
Recognizing the $1.2 million project price tag, the Township Committee, in executive session Tuesday night, indicated it probably would be willing to offset some of the cost of repaving the road to bring down the cost, said Township Administrator Anthony Ferrara. The amount depends on variables, including the interest rate to borrow.
Health department officials have scurried in the last few weeks to convince at least 70 percent of the homeowners to agree to join the project. Residents have been given information that estimates costs at about $9,000 to $14,000 to connect a home to a sewer line at the street, plus 20 years of payments to pay off money that will be borrowed.
For septic systems in areas like this, which has a high water table, would probably be as high $40,000-50,000, Health Administrator Glen Belnay said.
He said most of the septic systems are “on borrowed time” and have outlived their expected lifetime of 25 to 30 years. Some have failed and some are on the verge, he said.
The info from the health department estimates it could cost:
• $2,500 to extend a lateral from the house to the street,
• As much as $2,000 to abandon a septic system,
• More than $4,800 for hookup fees to the township and regional sewerage authorities and
• $5,000 for a pump and valve chamber, if needed.
Dr. Belnay said some of those estimates, particularly the abandonment and filling of septic systems, could be high, easily by hundreds of dollars. Only a half-dozen or so homes would need a pump, he estimated.
Each homeowner would also pay, over 20 years, for their part of the estimated $848,637 cost to install the sanitary sewer system, as well as a projected $386,279 to mill and repave the streets.
First payments are probably 18 to 24 months away, Dr. Belnay said. It would take at least through mid-2014 to design, bid and award the contract, and eight months or more to build. Homeowners would then have a maximum of six months to connect.
After the project is designed and bid, the actual costs would be presented again to the homeowners. If the costs are more than 20 percent higher than presented, contracts from 60 percent of homeowners would be needed to be signed again.
The project affects four homes on Willow Road, 11 on Winding Way, six on Spring Valley Drive, 11 on Camden Road and seven on Euclid Avenue.
Late Friday Dr. Belnay said that 11 of 18 homes on Euclid and Camden, and 14 of the 21 on Willow Way and Spring Valley had signed a document asking the township to undergo the improvement. He said the Township Committee wanted to have 70 percent of the residents (or 27 contracts) agree before moving ahead.
David Brook, a homeowner on Winding Way, asked the Township Committee at its Dec. 10 meeting if the local government would consider bearing some of the expense of street paving — which is more than 30 percent of the total project — as a township improvement, thus moving part of the cost from few affected residents to the wider township budget.
He said the township had done that last year when it voted to install sewers in the Claremont section of town.
Township Administrator Anthony Ferrara said Wednesday morning that the Township Committee wanted to try to bring the cost in line with what homeowners in the Claremont section, near the Millstone River, paid for sewer service. The 191 property owners agreed to pay about $24,200, plus interest. The first connections were made to the system in December 2011.
Mr. Brook said Dec. 10 that he had three more signed contracts, but said the cost was influencing some people’s willingness to sign.
He said a replacement septic system could cost less than installing sewers, reducing the incentive to sign.