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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 04-05-2011 - 5iORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: April 5, 2011 Action Agenda Item No, �") - SUBJECT: Central Efland Phase 2 /Northern Buckhorn Easements DEPARTMENT: Planning PUBLIC HEARING: (YIN) ND ATTACHMENT(S): 1. Map Showing Easement Parcels for Central Efland 2. Map Showing Easement Parcels for Northern Buckhorn INFORMATION CONTACT: Craig, Benedict, Planning Director, 245- 2592 Kevin Lindley, PE, Staff Engineer, 245- 2583 John Roberts, County Attorney, 245 -2318 PURPOSE: To consider authorizing County Staff to negotiate for the private easements required to construct and maintain the central Efland and Northern Buckhorn sewer extensions. BACKGROUND: The county has been working towards construction of an extension to the Efland sewer system and an extension of the City of Mebane's sewer system into the Northern Buckhorn community for several years, The County is nearing the end of the permit approval process and should be beginning construction in the Fall of 2011. As such, the county needs to secure several construction and maintenance easements for the ' sewer lines that need to be installed as part of this project. At this time, all the easements have been identified and plats have been drawn by the engineering consultant; Coulter Jewell Thames, to show the easement needed in relation to the property lines for each parcel that will be impacted, The County Attorney John Roberts, has drafted basic easement documents that include a legal description of each easement required. All property owners from whom the County needs easements have been notified by mail. Many have contacted staff for more information about why the easement is necessary and how it would impact their use of the property. At this point, the County needs to begin negotiating with the property owners to come to agreement on the compensation that will be given for granting the County a sewer easement on their property. PREVIOUS 1985 EFLAND SEINER EASEMENT ARRANGEMENT In 1985, many of the residents in the Efland community signed a combined utility connection and easement agreement in anticipation of the County installing sewer service in the community. This agreement granted an easement to the County, should it be needed, for installation and maintenance of the sewer lines to serve the community. The agreement also indicated that the signer agreed to pay the minimum charge each month once sewer service 2 was available in the area, whether they connected to the sewer or not. In exchange for the easement and connection agreement, the county offered a waiver of County fees and offered to pay the current Town of Hillsborough sewer capital facility fee at the time. PROPOSED EFLAND SEWER EASEMENT ARRANGEMENT Staff proposes to offer the following similar agreement to the current easement grantors in the Efland area: • a waiver of the orange county $000 connection fee • a waiver of the Orange county $1,000 per acre availability fee • a service connection to be installed during construction of the system extension at no charge to the customer • payment of the one -time Town of Hillsborough sewer capital facilities fee, currently set at $2,572. In exchange for the above compensation, the easement grantors would agree to convey an easement to the county for the purposes of constructing and maintaining the sewer line in perpetuity. In addition, the easement grantors would agree to become customers of the sewer system once it becomes operational and /or pay the base charge every month regardless of whether or not the grantor connects to the sewer system. In order to connect to the system, the grantors would still have to pay to have their septic tank abandoned and to connect their plumbing to the service connection at the edge of the easement. Offering these incentives to Efland residents should not only speed the easement process, but should also serve as a significant incentive to encourage potential customers to connect to the system and become customers. In addition, whether connected or not, the payment of the base charge each month would serve to offset the additional overhead and maintenance costs incurred as a result of the extension. As mentioned above, this is the same offer that was extended to all residents in the Efland area in 1985 when the County was meeting with residents to discuss building a sewer system in Efland. Because 17 of the signers of the original 1985 agreement are property owners from whom the County needs easements, the Hillsborough fees for these "original signers" were paid by the county before the system was constructed and will not represent any added expense. In addition, these same original signers were granted a waiver of county connection fees as part of the agreement, so waiving fees for them does not represent a net loss of revenue. There are a few properties in the Efland area that have either unusually large easements, can not connect to the sewer system because of existing Land Use Plan designations (NOTE: Orange county planning, as part of the Efland Small Area Plan, has sought to align land use and utility potential and will be evaluating theses fringe areas to develop a comprehensive and cost - effective utility program), or have some other unusual factor that makes the standard package above less applicable. In addition to these easements, the county must purchase approximately one acre of land in the Efland area which will become the site for the new Brookhollow Road pump station. For these properties, a consultant will need to be hired who has experience with easement acquisition and appraisal and can help the county come to a fair agreement for the easement needed. NORTHERN BUCKHORN SEWER EASEMENTS For the residents in the Northern Buckhorn area, Orange county has less flexibility to offer connection incentives because that system will be owned and operated by the City of Mebane. In addition, the city of Mebane has already agreed in its 2004 service agreement with the County to offer a waiver of its connection fee of $1,300 for any residence or church that can be served by this sewer extension and was in existence when the service agreement was signed. Compensation for easements in this area will likely take the form of an appraised value per linear foot derived by a consultant who specializes in real estate and easement acquisition. FINANCIAL IMPACT: For the 17 parcels that were part of the original agreement, there should be no financial impact because the County has already approved the waiver of these fees and has already paid the Hillsborough sewer capital facility fee for these properties. There are 18 easement parcels that were not a part of the original agreement. Based on the assumption that all 18 of these properties. would connect once the system was available, the estimated loss of revenue from the waiver of County connection and availability fees is approximately $11,000 for connection fees and $52,000 for the availability fees. The cost for the Hillsborough sewer capital facilities fees for these 18 Efland easement holders would be approximately $48,000. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends the Board authorize staff to proceed with negotiating and acquiring easements for the Central Efland -Phase 2/Northern Buckhorn sewer extension project in accordance with the offer proposal noted above. 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