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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 01-18-2001-9dORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: January 18, 2001 Action Agenda Item No. 9-d SUBJECT: Authorization for OWASA to Negotiate, Purchase, and Acquire Construction _Easements for the Rogers Road Waterline Project DEPARTMENT: County Manager PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): 12/7/00 County Engineer Memo INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Thames, County Engineer ext 2303 TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough 732-8181 Chapel Hill 968-4501 Durham 688-7331 Mebane 336-227-2031 PURPOSE: To request that the BOCC authorize OWASA to: 1) negotiate the purchase, including purchase price, for temporary construction and permanent utility easements for the Rogers Road water line project; and 2) actually purchase the necessary easements with reimbursement from the landfill funds being used to pay for the construction. of the Rogers Road water line. BACKGROUND: In April 2000, the BOCC authorized the implementation of a project to provide for i extension of water service to the Rogers Road neighborhood and the Eubanks Road landfill. The pr estimated to. cost $550,000 using funds from landfill capital reserves. Furthermore, the Board authorized OWASA to manage and supervise permitting and construction of the project. OWASA was not, however, specifically authorized to negotiate purchase prices for easements or to acquire easements. The process of construction and easement surveying, and system design and permitting has been ongoing since June of 2000. The time for letting bids construction bids for the project is now at hand. However, the temporary construction and permanent utility easements that have been identified must now be acquired - prior to contract award and the beginning of construction. The water main layout design for the Rogers Road project requires that a total of four. or more acres of easement, lying on approximately 25 properties, be acquired. The total costs of these easements, which was included in the original $550,000 construction cost estimate, is not expected to exceed $30,000. OWASA is the most logical and appropriate entity - in terms of overall easement acquisition experience, specific knowledge of the Rogers Road neighborhood, and ultimate ownership of the easements - to implement the easement acquisition process. Staff recommends that the BOCC specifically authorize OWASA to manage the easement acquisition process and begin acquiring the necessary easements. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There-will be no additional financial impact as a consequence of authorizing OWASA to begin acquiring easements, as the projected $30,000 in easement costs as well as OWASA's administrative costs were factored into the original $550,000 project budget estimate. Those funds have been included in appropriations in the FY 2000-01 Solid Waste/Landfill Operations Fund. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the BOCC authorize OWASA to negotiate the acquisition of easements and to make payments, reimbursable from the Rogers Road Waterline project account, as necessary to acquire those easements. 3 MEMORANDUM TO: County Commissioners John Link, County Manager COPIES: Solid Waste Advisory Board Rod Visser, Assistant County Manager Geof Gledhill, County Attorney Gayle Wilson, Solid Waste Management Director FROM: Paul Thames, PE, County Engineer DATE: December 7, 2000 SUBJECT: Rogers Road Water Line Project Issues The purpose of this memorandum is to bring several issues to the attention of the BOCC, relative to the Rogers Road water line project, to make recommendations as to how to proceed with financing project components other than construction of the water main network. I understand that the Solid Waste Advisory Board will be reviewing and discussing the Rogers Road waterline project at its next few meetings, and will offer recommendations next Spring as the Board provides direction to staff on how to complete the project. These issues are: 1. The timetable for completing the public water main construction phase of the Rogers Road project. 2. Strategies for determining which individual households (if any) in the community will receive public funding (in what amount) for OWASA's availability fees and for the cost of the on-site plumbing necessary to connect homes to the public water mains and to ensure that in-house plumbing is sufficient to withstand municipal water pressures. 3. Paying for utility easements. CONSTRUCTION TIME TABLE During its April 17, 2000 deliberation on an interlocal agreement between Orange County and OWASA for OWASA's management and construction of the Rogers Road water main project, the BOCC reviewed OWASA's projected time for: finalizing the interlocal agreement ¦ securing an engineering consultant, conducting property and construction surveys and developing engineering plans - ¦ acquiring utility easements from NCDOT and private property owners ¦ obtaining all necessary construction approvals and permits ¦ bidding and constructing all public water mains OWASA indicated that twelve months, beginning at project authorization, would be sufficient to complete all of these work elements. As OWASA was agreeable to beginning the project without waiting until the interlocal agreement between the County and OWASA was formally executed, the project was actually initiated in May. As of this date, the interlocal agreement has not yet been finalized or executed. However, all construction and property surveying has been completed, easements have been identified and final engineering design has been nearly completed. 4 It is probable that, failing an unforeseen delay, the project will be ready to bid around January 1, 2001. Given a timetable generally conforming to that outlined by the original time line, project construction would begin on or about March 1, 2001 and be completed on or about June 1, 2001. However, a good portion of the actual construction of the water mains would occur during wet weather and the process of acquiring easements across private property has not yet begun. Construction problems related to poor weather conditions and easement acquisition difficulties are potential sources of delay. FINANCING PROJECT COSTS There are four primary cost centers involved in providing water services to residents of the Rogers Road Community: ¦ Costs for water main construction costs (including easement acquisition costs, if any) ¦ Costs of OWASA availability fees ( a charge based on each water customer's pro rata share of capital expenditures for common water utility infrastructure, such as the water treatment plant) ¦ Costs for constructing water service lines (plumbing connections between customers' house plumbing and water meters which are located at the right-of-way or easement lines) ¦ Costs of plumbing upgrades at individual homes where necessary to insure compatibility with high pressure municipal water service Under rationales that a) County owned, landfill related property could ultimately benefit from the availability of water, and b) being proactive regarding the potential migration of landfill leachate to unprotected water wells in the Rogers Road community requires an extension of municipal water service, the decision has been made to use landfill funds to pay the costs of water main construction. Public funding of the water main construction means that no property or household within that portion of the Rogers Road community that can be served by the project will face any assessment charge (charge based on a pro rata share of water main construction costs that are typically charged to benefiting parties). 5 However, with the exception of water main construction costs, no formal decision has been made as to: a) which, if any, of the remaining costs will be financed by public funds; b) what level of funding will be provided; c) how those funds will be allocated among homeowners, landlords, economically disadvantaged households, etc.; or d) what the sources of funds will be. OWASA's availability fees must be paid for each home or structure that is connected to the water main system. For a residential unit, this fee is typically calculated on the basis of the square footage of the dwelling. Availability fees in the Rogers Road community are expected to average approximately $900 per unit. Insofar as the Rogers Road project is concerned, a case may be made that availability fee costs should be treated like water main construction costs and financed with landfill funds. That argument may be outlined as follows: 1) municipal water service is required to ensure that all household can avoid exposure to drinking water contaminated with landfill leachate; 2) water mains must. be constructed in the neighborhood to make water service available; 3) availability fees must be paid before homes or buildings can be connected to the water mains; and 4) accordingly, all availability fees should be financed in the same manner as the construction costs. That is, the landfill funds may and should be used to pay availability fees for all occupied homes within the Rogers Road community. The extension of municipal water service to the Rogers Road community will naturally increase the value of all of the properties to which that service is available. However, on several occasions the Board of County Commissioners has expressed its intent that the County's funding of water service to the Rogers Road community not unnecessarily enhance the revenue generating potential of non-owner occupied or development property. While all costs funded from the landfill funds must be made available for all homes existing at the time the funds are expended, costs that are funded from other sources may be allocated more selectively. One financing strategy or process that the BOCC could consider using (and that would be familiar to the Board) to finance much of the remaining costs of providing water service to the Rogers Road community is very similar to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) process. Historically in Orange County, CDBG projects have been used to fund utility service extensions and home improvements for low and moderate-income households. The typical CDBG process of identifying home improvement needs as well as determining whether households meet low and moderate income criteria could be easily adapted to determine which structures in the Rogers Road community need internal plumbing improvements and which households should receive public assistance for constructing service lines and plumbing upgrades. Unfortunately, the Rogers Road project is not a candidate for CDBG funds. However, Orange County could self fund a grant, deriving necessary funds from the General Fund, local sales tax receipts or some other funding source. Once a fixed total funding limit is established, the Orange County Department of Housing and Community Development could target and disperse those funds exactly as it would for a HUD funded CDBG project. Since the water main construction will not be complete prior to rune 2001, funds for this grant could be appropriated as a part of the FY 2001-2002 budget process. The original survey of the Rogers Road community in the fall of 1998 identified 119 properties which might be considered as apart of the community. Ultimately, five properties (parcel numbers 30,115, 116, 117 and 118 on the map attached with the 1999 Rogers Road report and survey spreadsheet) were 6 eliminated from this count as not being a part of the community. One additional property - the Nunn property (parcel 119) - was eliminated from the water main extension project as it was too remote from the rest of the Rogers Road community (separated by large tracts of landfill property) to be reasonably provided with water service. The remaining 113 properties can be separated into 35 parcels which contain no structures at all and 78 parcels which contain one church, 73 occupied dwellings, 22 uninhabited dwellings and seven non-residential structures such as shops. Eleven of the occupied parcels contain more than one structure. Nineteen households declined to participate in the 1998 survey and furnished no information related to condition of household plumbing, water quality problems, number of individuals in a household or their ages, household income, or even the name of the head of the household. However, the survey did provide a count of approximately 123 residents in 50 households. Of these, 105 individuals could be categorized as being within low/moderate income households (according to 1998 HUD criteria for Orange County). Twenty-two of the individuals that were counted were at least 60'years old and 26 were less than 15 years old. The current estimate for construction of the Rogers Road water main system is approximately $550,000. It is estimated that OWASA availability fees for all of the existing homes (including those not occupied in 1998) in the Rogers Road community would approach $100,000. There are no reliable estimates at this time for the potential costs of connecting all homes in the community to the water meters or for improving plumbing in those homes which may need such work. However, it is reasonable to expect that connecting all homes in the community to the meters could approach or even exceed $100,000 and that another $100,000 would be necessary to make all necessary improvements to individual plumbing systems. If the refusal of residents to participate in the original field survey could be construed to mean that those households do not want or intend to receive municipal water service, it is possible that no costs associated with availability fees or plumbing will be incurred for nineteen or more households. This would represent a cost reduction of approximately $60,000 from the $300,000 total of availability fee and plumbing costs cited above. PURCHASE OF UTILITY EASEMENTS The Rogers Road project involves the acquisition of approximately four acres of easement outside of existing public rights-of-way or easements and across private property. The estimated cost of these easements, if purchased, totals approximately $30,000. This cost was included in the $550,000 preliminary project cost estimate. As most of the project costs will be publicly funded, neither the County nor OWASA will have any leverage (such as a reduction in assessment charges), other than the good will of property owners, to use to acquire free or lowered cost easements. As construction of any particular water main segment crossing private land cannot be undertaken until the necessary easements are acquired, acquisition of these easements should commence very shortly. Accordingly, the BOCC must authorize OWASA to begin negotiating easement acquisitions and purchase prices as soon as practicable. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS At this time, it is estimated that the total project cost to provide water service to all residents of the Rogers Road community, including all water main construction, easement acquisition, availability fees, on-site plumbing at all residential units, etc., will be in the $900,000 range. At least $550,000 of this total will be funded from the landfill budget. If the BOCC decides to finance availability fees from the landfill budget, then approximately $650,000 will be publicly funded. The BOCC may decide to fund another $200,000 or more in the form of grants or low interest loans to pay individual homeowner's costs associated with on-site plumbing requirements. As outlined above, the project is on schedule for water main construction to be completed early in June 2001. However, to meet that schedule, all utility easements must have been acquired by March 1, 2000 or thereabouts. Soon afterward the June water main construction completion, the process of connecting individual homes to the system by installing individual water meters and completing on-site plumbing construction and repair can begin. In the meantime, the BOCC must determine if and how it wishes to fund those costs beyond the initial costs of constructing the water mains. This is necessary both from a standpoint of creating a County budget for FY 2001-2001 and of informing and reassuring members of the Rogers Road community as to the County's overall intent in terms of addressing the overall costs of the project. In accordance with the need to resolve these issues, staff recommends that the BOCC: 1) authorize OWASA to begin acquiring all necessary easements across private property and negotiating the price, if any, for those easements; 2) authorize County staff to pay OWASA availability fees from landfill funds; and 3) direct staff to begin the standard CDBG process of identifying home improvement needs as well as determining whether households meet low and moderate income criteria to determine which structures in the Rogers Road community need internal plumbing improvements and which households should receive public assistance (grants or loans) for constructing service lines and plumbing upgrades. I understand that the Solid Waste Advisory Board will begin consideration at their December 14 meeting of the financing questions related to completion of the Rogers Road water line project. Guidance from the BOCC will be needed on these matters next Spring following the Board's receipt of input from the SWAB. If I may provide additional information at this time, please advise.