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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 08-20-1996 - X-D 1 ORANGECOUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: Action Agenda Item # X—D SUBJECT: Efland Sewer report DEPARTMENT: County Manager PUBLIC HEARING: Yes x No ATTACHMENT(S): BUDGET AMENDMENT: . Yes x No County Engineer's memo INFORMATION CONTACT: Figures(drawings) from 4/5/84 revision County Engineer Extension 2303 of McAdams' Efland sewer report (Under separate cover) TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough - 732-8181 Durham - 688-7331 Mebane - 227-2031 Chapel Hill - 967-9251/968-4501 PURPOSE: To provide the BOCC with historical background information about the process by which the Efland sewer system was created and defined;to relate information related to one unusual current request to tap onto the Efland sewer system; and to outline current efforts/strategies to finance expansion of the system. BACKGROUND: Beginning in 1981, widespread problems with failing septic tanks and other waste treatment systems serving residents of the west Efland vicinity and the Efland Cheeks Elementary School came to the attention of the BOCC. These problems had potentially serious public health implications and the BOCC was compelled to initiate a process which would eventually result in Orange County providing municipal sewer service to a portion of Efland. Although master planning engineering studies provided a preliminary sewer design for all of Efland, available funding was sufficient to construct a sewer system serving only a portion of the most severely afflicted areas of Efland. Citizens of the un-sewered portions of Efland have, on several occasions, requested the County fund construction of an expansion of the sewer system. The BOCC has indicated that the County will not fund system expansion using County-wide tax revenues. Over the past five years, other system expansion funding strategies including sewer user fees, CDBG funding, y 2 Cleans Water Bond grant funding, sewer service tax districts and an assortment of assessment methods have been evaluated by County staff. The County's CDBG funding applications have been turned down by the state on two occasions. Clean Water Bond grant funding has been very scarce for the last ten years and qualification requirements remain very difficult to meet. Assessment and sewer use rate strategies have been shown to be too costly for existing and potential sewer customers to bear. The property value of central Efland is too low to support tax district financing of sewer system expansion. There are several potential strategies and combinations of strategies which may provide hope for financing expansion of the Efland sewer system. CDBG funding requirements for infrastructure improvements have been recently modified to the point that sewer expansion may be eligible for grant funding. The County is funding engineering consultant work that will provide the reports and construction documents that are prerequisite to qualifying for federal and state grant funding. The BOCC, Planning Board and County staff are working to define and develop the Buckhorn Road. This may, in turn, eventually provide a significant property tax base which could be integrated into an Efland sewer tax district and used to subsidize the Efland sewer system. Any of these strategies, if successful, would at least reduce the financial burden of system expansion and operation on the citizens of Efland. RECOMMENDATION : The Manager recommends that the BOCC receive the report as information. 3 MEMORANDUM TO: Board of County Commissioners FROM: Paul Thames, PE, County Engineer DATE: August 12, 1996 \ SUBJECT: Report on Efland sewer system history and expansion issues As per the request of the County Manger, the following information related to the history and potential future of the Efland sewer system is presented for the information of the Board of County Commissioners. The history of the Efland sewer system begins in 1981, shortly after the Orange County Health Department determined that most of the septic tanks in the area of Efland known as Efland Estates were failing with no real potential for on-site system repairs. Shortly thereafter, the package treatment plant serving the Efland-Cheeks Elementary school also failed. The County entered into a series of contracts with the John R. McAdams Company to provide a series of engineering reports intended to identify the nature, scope and potential solutions to the sewer problems of Efland. These reports culminated in a 1984 report entitled"Water and Sewer Extension Feasibility Report, Cheeks Township, Orange County, NC". While the report did provide a very preliminary water main/storage tank layout, the primary focus of the report was provision of sewer service. The overall study area of the McAdams report covered portion of the Eno River basin bounded roughly by Lake Ben Johnson on the east, the basin ridge line on the south, Lebannon Road(SR 1306) on the north and Buckhom Road (SR 1114) on the west. The study area was further refined into an Immediate Planning Area and a Future Planning Area for sewer expansion. The Immediate Planning Area was subdivided into six phases which covered most of the portion of Efland roughly bounded by Buckhorn Road on the west, the Lloyd dairy on the east, McGowan Creek on the north and Southern Railroad on the south. Two small areas between Southern Railroad and Interstate 85 were also included in the Immediate Planning Area. The Future Planning Area occupied the portions of the Efland vicinity between the Immediate Planning Area and West Ten Road(SR 1144) on the south and between the Immediate Planning Area and Lebannon Road (SR 1306) on the north. For a more graphic representation of the study and planning areas and the phases referenced above, please note the attached maps from the McAdams report: a)Figure No. 2, which delineates the Study Area, Immediate Planning Area and Future Planning Area; b)Figures 6a. 6b and 6c, which delineate the phasing plan for the Immediate Planning Area; and c)Figure 8b, which delineates the recommended development plan. 1 4 The BOCC never formally adopted or accepted the McAdams report or its recommendations. However, in a resolution adopted on November 20, 1984, the BOCC did state that the County would construct the portion of the system designated as"Phase I of the Project Engineer's Preliminary Report, 5h Edition dated April 5h, 1984, last revised August 7, 1984". The resolution went on to qualify its intention by stating that"The System will be undertaken and funded by Orange County only if at least 179 persons, firms or,corporations located in Phase I of the Project Area apply for connection to and sewer service for existing dwellings and businesses during the initial application period". The resolution also provided that an additional fourteen homes and businesses located adjacent to Phase I(primarily in Phase II) could be served by the initial sewer construction project if it were financially feasible to construct the sewer collection lines necessary to serve these properties as an addition to the Phase I construction project. During November and December of 1984 and January of 1985, Orange County Commissioners and staff and Efland community volunteers organized something similar to a membership drive. The purpose of the drive was to convince residents of Efland to sign up for sewer service in numbers sufficient to meet the 179 sewer services minimum established by the BOCC's 11/20/84 resolution. In preparation for the sewer service sign-up process, 198 sewer service request documents were prepared for the signature of 178 individuals (or businesses or organizations) to request 213 sewer taps(twenty individuals, organizations, etc., requested more than one tap). However, twenty-two of the sewer service taps covered by signed sewer service request documents were on property parcels located outside the boundaries of Phase I as delineated in the McAdams report. Sewer service request documents for another twenty four taps which would have been located in Phase I were never signed by the property owners. Ultimately, one hundred sixty-seven qualifying(meeting the requirements or conditions set forth in the BOCC's 11/20/84 resolution)requests for sewer service were submitted to or received by Orange County by the January 31 , 1985 sewer service request deadline. In February 1985, Orange County engaged another engineering consulting firm, Hazen and Sawyer, to revise the McAdams' engineering report and to provide actual sewer system design and construction administration services. Hazen and Sawyer modified McAdams' preliminary sewer design layout (gravity and force main pipe routing, number and location of pump stations) and slightly revised the delineation of the individual phases within the overall phasing plan. Hazen and Sawyer's detailed sewer layout work and cost estimation indicated that construction of the portion of Phase I east of Efland-Cedar Grove Road (SR 1004)would not be economically feasible, given the funds available from the County and various state and federal grants and loans. Hazen and Sawyer completed the design for Phase II and the western portion of Phase I in early 1987. The sewer project bid was configured such that Phase II portion was bid as an alternate. Bids were taken and, due to cost considerations, Phase II was deleted and a construction project encompassing only the western portion of Phase I was begun. The Efland sewer system was completed and began operation in October 1988. Since 1988, the Efland sewer customer base has expanded only slightly beyond the 115 initial customers living in the areas served by the portion of the system that was constructed. Twenty-three new taps have been installed, but two of these taps and approximately fifteen of the first taps that were installed during system construction have gone unused. The original and the new taps that have been unused were installed at buildings that have been unoccupied, lacked plumbing facilities or where the home/building owners have either been unwilling or financially unable to tap on. 2 5 Currently, there are pending requests for approximately twenty-four new sewer taps. These taps are for housing units as yet not built and awaiting funding, planning approval, etc. Recently, there have also been a number of inquiries related to the potential for extending sewer service to relatively large, undeveloped parcels of property adjacent to the existing McGowan Creek sewer outfall line. These projects and any large development project anywhere in the Efland area will be on hold until the Orange- Alamance Water System is able to resolve its current problems with its insufficient water supply and treatment capacity. Other current issues related to the Efland sewer system involve the availability and availability time frame for providing sewer service to central Efland (Phase H and the remaining portion of Phase 1). Several businesses along Hwy 70 have inquired about sewer service and one has requested that sewer service be provided immediately by means of tapping into the force main extending from the McGowan Creek pump station to Hillsborough. This business, a car wash located on the corner of Efland-Cedar Grove Road and Hwy 70 and owned by Ben Lloyd, has been operating for approximately five years under a Special Order of Consent(SOC) and a Notice of Violation(NOV)issued by the NC Division of Environmental Management (DEM). The SOC and NOV process were tailored specifically to eliminate, over the five year period, the car wash's non-permitted surface discharge of untreated wash water to the storm drainage system on the car wash property and adjacent property. During the time frame of the SOC, Mr. Lloyd was apparently waiting for the County to construct the portion of the gravity sewer collection system(Phase 11)that would serve his car wash property. The County did not expand the sewer system, Mr. Lloyd's SOC-specified compliance grace period expired, and DEM filed suit to compel Mr. Lloyd to eliminate the discharge. Mr. Lloyd has responded by requesting that the County allow him to tap into the force main lying across Hwy 70 from the car wash. Orange County staff have met on several occasions with Mr. Lloyd and his engineer to discuss methods of providing sewer service for the car wash. Mr. Lloyd has repeatedly indicated his preference for a solution that minimizes his costs. Unarguably, the solution with the lowest cost ($10,000 or less)for Mr. Lloyd is one which involves installing an on-site, private pumping station with a short run of force main which would be tapped into the segment of the Efland sewer force main in front of the car wash. This solution, however, represents potentially the highest cost to the County in a number of ways. The tap itself requires that a hole be drilled or cut into the force main. The fittings, valves and lines connecting Mr. Lloyds private pumping station to the force main would remain under constant pressure from either the on-site or the Efland system pumping station. A failure of the valves or fittings affected by the pressure created by the Efland system pumping station could possibly result in the discharge of thousands of gallons of sanitary waste from the Efland system. Mitigation of any environmental consequences, repair of damages to US 70, etc.,would be the legal and financial responsibility of the County. The County would also face the task of approving or denying other requests to tap into the force main along US 70. Allowing taps to be made to the County's Efland force main could conceivably have some impact, in terms of setting a precedent, on requests to tap other existing and future sewer force mains within Orange County-those serving the New Hope Elementary School, Piney Mountain and Dogwood Acres, for example. 3 6 1 County staff have suggested an alternate solution for providing sewer service to Mr. Lloyd while avoiding all of the certain and potential problems associated with tapping the Efland force main. Staff have proposed that Mr. Lloyd approach the BOCC to request that sewer service be provided by means of a small diameter force main extending from a pumping station at his car wash to the Efland pumping station. This would require the installation of approximately 1000 feet of additional force main but it would eliminate the requirement to a vault or manhole at the force main tap and would require the installation of a less powerful and expensive pump station setup at the car wash. This solution, under current NCDOT policy, would require BOCC action enabling the County to accept.ownership of the portion of Mr. Lloyd's force main installed in the NCDOT rights-of-way for US 70 and Efland-Cedar Grove Road. To date, the staff proposal has not been satisfactory to Mr. Lloyd and this issue has not yet been resolved. Although it will come far too late to assist Mr. Lloyd in his current difficulties, the County is working on several fronts to set up conditions that may be advantageous for expanding the Efland sewer system at reduced costs for the County and the residents of Efland. Rules for CDBG funding of infrastructure (including sewer systems) have again changed and may now be favorable for providing funding for some portion of the Efland sewer expansion. The County's Department of Housing and Community development has undertaken the process of evaluating Efland sewer needs, income levels, etc., to determine if the County will be able to submit a viable CDBG application. In the CIP for FY 1996-97, the BOCC has provided $50,000 to pay for consulting engineering services to update the engineer's report and develop the environmental impact assessment and the construction documents for completing sewer system expansion in Phase II and the remaining portion of Phase I. Having these documents in hand at the time of when grant applications are submitted is essentially a prerequisite to qualifying for grant funding. The Request for Proposals (RFP)for engineering services will be sent out in August. Evaluation of proposals and selection of an engineering consultant should be accomplished by the first of October. Engineering plans and reports will be submitted with grant applications in March 1997. County staff are also looking at strategies for extending sewer service from the Efland sewer system to the Buckhom Road EDD. When the EDD is occupied by corporate entities owning the EDD property and using the sewer system, the corporate community can bear a sizable portion of the cost of expanding and operating the Efland sewer system. This can be accomplished by means of implementing a corporate sewer use rate structure and through the integration of the EDD corporate property tax value and tax base into an Efland sewer tax district. Greatly enhanced sewer tax district revenues based on EDD property values and sewer use revenues could then be used to subsidize sewer extensions and service within Efland. None of these strategies outlined above afford any real certainty of providing significant funding assistance for expanding the Efland sewer system. The only certainty about expanding the sewer system is that, without the infusion of significant sums of public funds, many of the residents of Efland would find the cost of expanding the system to be a serious financial burden. If I may provide additional information, please advise. 4