TOWN OF SOMERS
WATER
POLLUTION CONTROL AUTHORITY
P. O. Box 308
Somers,
Connecticut 06071
WPCA
MINUTES
10/7/03;
7:30 p.m.
Town Hall
I. CALL TO ORDER:
Vice-Chairman Charles Colby called the meeting to order
at 7:50 p.m. Members present were: George VanTasel; Jim Faust; Elinor Labutis
and Charles Colby (7:50). Also present
were:
Steve Jacobs, Registered
Sanitarian and Carl Landolina, Town Attorney.
II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: 9/2/03
George VanTasel made a motion to approve the 9/2/03
minutes, as written. This motion was
seconded by Jim Faust and unanimously approved by the Authority.
III. GEORGE WOOD & HALL HILL ROAD - LEASKA CONSTRUCTION
COMPANY
Sewer Service Request for Age Restricted Housing
This property is actually located further down Hall Hill
Road near McCullough Drive.
Guy Hesketh, engineer for
the applicant, presented a preliminary plan of the proposed ARH
development. Originally, it was thought
to be for 75-80 units if the property presently owned by the Kasperzak family
was purchased by Mr. Leaska. This has
not happened and the current plan calls for (46) total two-bedroom units. The applicant is requesting that these units
are connected to the public sewer system.
Steve Jacobs said this site
is way beyond the current public sewer service area. There is limited available capacity at the Sewer Plant. Current use is about 65,000 gallons per
day. With the addition of (2) new sand
beds, the capacity could be increased to about 100,000 gpd. Also, we can
not deny sewer service to
all the properties along Hall Hill Road between the current public sewer line
and the proposed hook-up to the ARH complex.
Steve said he did not see how we could accommodate this request without
building another sewer treatment plant.
Charles Colby said the present
sewer treatment plant was built at its present capacity to correct a pollution
problem in Somersville. At that time,
the town was canvassed to see if the citizens would like a larger sewer plant
that could provide public sewers to most of the town. The answer was an overwhelming "no". Most citizens preferred private septic
systems.
Guy Hesketh said the
applicant would be willing to share the cost of upgrading the sewer plant with
the Town. Mr. Hesketh asked if there
were any properties within the sewer district that would not be using their
sewer option.
Steve Jacobs said the
Somersville Mill's two buildings were allotted 5,000 gpd and this is not being
used. Also 145 Main Street (Joanna's
Cafe) is not using their full capacity.
WPCA Minutes
10/7/03
Page 2
George VanTasel suggested
that the applicant contact Enfield to see if they would be willing to supply a
public sewer line to this property.
Enfield has a pump station that is very close by. This would have to be approved by the WPCA
before Enfield could even consider it.
Steve Jacobs suggested that
the applicant investigate on-site or community septic systems.
Attorney Carl Landolina said
that OPM has its own plan of conservation and development. Expansion of the sewer system could mean a
loss of potential State grant money.
You should determine whether this area is acceptable for sewer
development. He would guess there are
no areas that are designated by the OPM that would allow sewer expansion. The regulations do not have a requirement
for public sewers in ARH developments.
It was felt that these large parcels of land would have enough room for
a community septic system.
Mr. Leaska said the proposed
ARH units would sell for $400,000 and up - definitely an upscale
development. People are leaving Somers
because this type of upscale development is not currently available.
Steve Jacobs asked if we
want to increase our infrastructure to expand the sewer system? This will cost a lot of money. We currently have one of the lowest user rates
in the State. The cost of expansion of
the sewer system could filter down to the current users.
Mr. Hesketh suggested
building something into the Plan of Conservation and Development update that
would allow the expansion of the sewer plant - if the citizens favor this move.
Attorney Landolina said that
once the sewer service is increased, you can not just allow ARH development to
be the only type of development to use the sewer service.
George VanTasel made a
motion to reject this application for public sewer service because it is out of
our current sewer service area. This
motion was seconded by Jim Faust and unanimously approved by the Authority.
IV. 145 MAIN STREET - SHAKER HILL FARM DEVELOPMENT
Sewer Service Request for Age Restricted Housing
Jeff Lipton, developer of this proposed ARH complex,
asked to be brought up-to-date
on what has happened since
the last WPCA meeting.
The Town Attorney has
determined that the Town has no legal obligation to Somersville Mill to hold
back 16,000 gallons of flow for the Mill development. There has been no formal approval of the Mill project. The WPCA is only legally bound to provide
the 5,000 gpd.
Steve Jacobs recommends that
if we do any kind of sewer plant expansion, we look into the Mill's
future plans for
development. We should keep the
allotment for these buildings at 21,000 gpd total.
The Mill buildings already
exist and the development of these buildings was something the Town of Somers
approved of in the past.
WPCA Minutes
10/7/03
Page 3
Mr. Lipton's parcel is a
deferred piece of property on the original sewer assessment list and could be
connected to the current sewer system.
Steve Jacobs pointed out
that in order to service Mr. Lipton's piece of property, two additional sand
beds would need to be added to the present sewer plant. With these two additional sand beds, we
could keep the Mill capacity in abeyance and look at Mr. Lipton's proposal.
Mr. Lipton plans to develop
(110) units. Steve Jacobs said the Town
may have to limit the number of units built - even with the two new sand beds.
Jeff Lipton said he should
have a formal development plan ready for WPCA review in December.
He is willing to pay for (1)
new sand bed and a portion of the second that would cover the usage from his proposed
development. He feels the Town should
pay for the remainder of the second bed.
Steve Jacobs suggested
asking Ward Engineering to update the cost of these sand beds as well as their
cost to engineer the project. Then the
next step would be to enter into an agreement with Jeff Lipton to put a certain
amount of money in escrow to pay for the design of the new sand beds.
Jeff Lipton would be willing
to spend $200,000 for one sand bed; $2,500 sewer assessment fee and
$100.00 each connection.
Attorney Landolina said the
Authority could recommend to the Board of Selectmen that this proposed ARH
development receive some kind of tax rebate.
Attorney Landolina said he would have to review the sewer ordinance but it
would be his recommendation that the developer pay
the sewer assessment fee up
front. He would also like to have a
formal application from the developer.
Steve Jacobs said a new
public act became effective this year.
The Authority has 65 days to review an application - which can be
extended another 65 days at the request of the developer - a total of
130 days. It is doubtful that we will receive DEP
approval within 130 days.
Jeff Lipton said he does not
want to put in a formal application until we get some cost figures from
Ward Engineering and
approval from the DEP.
Steve Jacobs said we need
the plans for expansion to apply for the DEP permit.
Jeff Lipton is concerned
about his cost. He asked: "Are you
expecting me to pay for the whole project if my usage is only half?"
Attorney Landolina asked if
the amount to increase the capacity of the sewer plant could be bonded?
Steve Jacobs said Jeff
Lipton's project would require in the neighborhood of 1 1/2 beds - 1.77 gpd.
DEP said we could go as high
as (2) gpd.
Attorney Landolina recommended
having Ward Engineering give us a figure for doing one bed and
WPCA Minutes
10/7/03
Page 4
a figure for doing (2) beds
to get up to l00,000 gpd capacity - as well as the cost to engineer the
project. Then we can resume discussion
of the project.
V. EXECUTIVE SESSION:
Hazardville Water Company - Pending Litigation
George VanTasel made a motion for members of the
Authority to go into Executive Session with the Town Attorney, Carl Landolina,
to discuss the above issue at 9:10 p.m.
This motion was seconded by Jim Faust and unanimously approved by the
Authority.
George VanTasel made a
motion to come out of Executive Session at 9:45 p.m. This motion was seconded by Jim Faust and unanimously approved by
the Authority.
George VanTasel made a
motion to resolve the pending litigation with Hazardville Water Company;
seconded by Jim Faust and unanimously approved by the Authority.
VI. CORRESPONDENCE/AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION:
Steve read highlights from Billing System Operator Connie
McKenna's monthly report.
Several meetings were held
with Blair Lawson and Karen LaPlante.
Most of the sewer billing
went out without
problems. Still trying to resolve a
problem with one sewer bill. The new
billing system is not a user friendly system.
Blair Lawson is moving to California and Joe Alix will be
our system coordinator in
the future. More training has to be
done on the system and an operations manual should be created.
Bill from BMSI for next
year's maintenance. Steve Jacobs will
write a letter officially notifying them that we are using another billing
system.
Steve Jacobs has been
working with the DEP on MTBE contamination on Dillenback Road. The
contamination levels are
nowhere near the drinking water standard.
Copy of the plume monitoring
report from Malcolm-Pirnie - levels are about the same.
Steve Jacobs will sample
Colton's property before they tie into the water system to be sure no
contamination is detected.
A legal notice was published
in the Journal Inquirer stating our new user fees for both Somersville and
Maple Ridge.
Invitation to bid to clean
the Somersville tanks was sent out with only bid being returned from
Avery Septic in the amount
of $4235.00. George VanTasel made a
motion to award the job to
Avery Septic to clean the
Somersville tanks for $4235.00. This
motion was seconded by Elinor
Labutis and unanimously
approved by the Authority.
WPCA Minutes
10/7/03
Page 5
Steve Jacobs sent a memo to
First Selectman Dick Jackson advising the BOS to have a site
assessment done before the
Town considers buying the 58-60 Springfield Road site - which is contaminated
with cadmium.
Received a letter from the
State Health Department advising us of new legislation that allows the town to
create a waste water management district.
We already have this and this is allowed in our ordinance.
Memo received from Dick
Jackson about a new fire code requirement.
Any public meeting with
100 or more people present -
fire exits have to be pointed out before the meeting begins.
Steve Jacobs sent a letter to
Skip's Septic, the present contractor for pumping the tanks at Maple
Ridge, stating there are (5)
tanks that need maintenance and we need proof that (4) other tanks
were pumped.
Recertification for Food
Service Inspector to be held in Tolland on 10/29/03 - one day seminar with no
cost to the Town. Jim Faust made a
motion to have Steve Jacobs attend this one day seminar pending approval from
the BOE; seconded by Elinor Labutis and unanimously approved by the
Authority.
Received the quarterly
mediation and testing report from the DOC.
Steve Jacobs has not had time to review it and will report on its
contents at the next WPCA meeting.
George VanTasel asked if any
water testing had been done on Grist Mill Terrace. Twenty people
on Grist Mill Terrace have
died of cancer. Steve Jacobs will check
on this.
VII. BILLS:
American Business Machines (printer cartridge) $69.99
Avery Septic $65.00
Journal Inquirer (legal notice) $62.96
Markson Lab $69.98
McCallister-Bicknell $34.29
Quill Business Supplies (printer cartridge) $59.99
George VanTasel made a motion to pay the bills; seconded
by Elinor Labutis and unanimously approved by the Authority.
WPCA MINUTES
10/7/03
Page 6
VIII. ADJOURNMENT:
Motion to adjourn made by George VanTasel; seconded by
Elinor Labutis and unanimously approved by the Authority. The meeting adjourned at 10:20 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Dan
Fraro, Secretary
Connie
Carenzo, Recording Secretary
MINUTES ARE NOT OFFICIAL UNTIL
APPROVAL AT A SUBSEQUENT MEETING.