Lebanon
Homeowners would pay thousands for the new utility, which is expected sometime in 2020, but residents also would be spared the cost of replacing their existing septic tanks and leach fields, city officials said.
By installing the new sewer lines, Lebanon also hopes to avert public health problems. The neighborhood off Route 4 sits above Lebanon Middle School and runoff flows downhill into the Mascoma River.
Worries of septage making its way into the river partially are why the City Council on Wednesday offered to split the sewer construction costs 50/50 with residents of the neighborhood, which was built more than 50 years ago.
Under the council’s proposal, the estimated $2.1 million sewer project would be shared evenly among property owners and Lebanon’s existing sewer ratepayers. The neighborhood’s 43 homes would be enrolled in a betterment district, each paying about $34,000 over 20 years.
It was a welcome offer for the roughly two dozen residents who attended Wednesday’s meeting. They’ve been promised sewer for years, but annual budget constraints have postponed the project.
“What’s been frustrating for me is the uncertainty in this situation,” said Rory Gawler, who purchased his home on Prospect Street Extension in 2010.
In 2011, Gawler recalls city officials informing the neighborhood that sewer was on the way, resulting in several of his neighbors putting off septic repairs.
“It would be very silly to replace your septic system if the sewer is coming in a year,” he told the council.
Several residents said they’ve noticed spongy fields and terrible smells caused not only by a lack of maintenance but also poor soil. The neighborhood was built atop soils considered “not favorable” to septic, according to a city memo presented to the council.
“The majority of (septic systems) have either been failing or failed,” said Melissa Robinson, a realtor who has lived in Hillcrest Acres since 2003. “Most of the home sellers have had to fork up $15,000-$20,000 at closing to give buyers a new septic system.”
“I always tell people, ‘Don’t ever believe what you hear anymore, we can’t expect (the sewer) to come and you have to take care of your septic,’ ” she said.
City engineers propose installing the sewer as roads are reconstructed and water lines replaced in a project that’s estimated to total $6.7 million.
Construction would look similar to what’s now taking place on Mechanic Street, where the city is in the process of separating sewer and storm water as part of its $69 million Combined Sewer Overflow, or CSO, project.
“It’s very similar to the CSO project where we’re doing the water, sewer, storm, rebuilding streets,” City Engineer Christina Hall said. “It is pretty expensive but that’s what we’re seeing.”
Hall showed councilors a 2008 design of the proposed Hillcrest sewer system, which would run through some residential yards and septic systems.
Drainage improvements on the street also could endanger leach fields, which is why officials wrote sewer hookup costs into their total budget, she said.
City Manager Shaun Mulholland said the included hookup cost also was designed to make it easier for residents, who might be worried about finding their own contractor and planning to connect to the sewer.
“They wouldn’t have to be concerned about that,” he said. “They wouldn’t have to try to figure that out.”
Although the City Council unanimously voted to offer a 50/50 split of the construction costs, it wasn’t a decision some made easily.
Councilor Karen Liot Hill asked city officials to gather several pieces of information before moving forward, including the cost of a new septic system, the status of the neighborhood’s septic systems and the average cost of a new house hooking up to sewer.
“I think there are too many outstanding questions before I would feel comfortable making a decision about how much the neighborhood should be asked to contribute,” she said.
Liot Hill also wasn’t sure how much input residents should have in the future construction, considering it might be necessary to head off wider health problems.
“It’s our responsibility to make these kinds of decisions, even when they’re sometimes difficult and even sometimes when a neighborhood might not be in favor of it,” she said.
But city officials said they require a price tag to present to residents over the summer. They hope to soon begin a public outreach and education campaign that will end in the fall, when the City Council makes its final decision on whether the sewer project will move forward, which could happen even if some Hillcrest Acres residents oppose the plan.
“We need to be able to give them a base plan,” Deputy City Manager Paula Maville said. “If we’re not going to do the sewer at all, we should say it.”
Ultimately, city officials agreed to gather more information and look into cheaper sewer designs while engaging residents with the Council’s cost sharing plan. The city is expected to make a final decision on the project sometime in September.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.
Correction
Lebanon City Manager Shaun Mulholland lives in an apartment in downtown Lebanon. An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported where he lives in the city.