GREENVILLE The Greenville City Council voted this week to take the next two steps required to install the plumbing infrastructure which is expected to help open up the southwestern edge of the city to economic development.

As part of the consent calendar on Tuesdays regular session agenda, the council authorized professional services agreements with Freese and Nichols, for the design of a one million gallon per day lift station for the region, and with Stovall and Associates for the surveying and easements needed for the life station, as well as a sewer force main and gravity line.

In 1998, the City of Greenville annexed more than 4,000 acres, including property in the area along Interstate 30 between FM 1570 and Monty Stratton Parkway, although sanitary sewer and water service was never installed in the region.

The region has been identified as having the most potential for future growth in Greenville, as development moves toward the city from the west.

City Manager Massoud Ebrahim has said the city needs to start installing the infrastructure now, if it expects to take advantage of interest from those wishing to locate along the corridor.

In October 2012, the council entered into a contract with Freese and Nichols for the preliminary design of the regional lift station.

The initial results of the study revealed the work would include not only building and installing the lift station, but also gravity pipelines and force mains to run the effluent to the wastewater treatment station on the east side of Greenville.

Freese and Nichols will now complete the formal design of the lift station, at a cost of $245,170. Stovall and Associates would complete a survey and the easement plat/legal description for the lift station project, at a cost of $38,600.

Ebrahim has proposed completing the entire project in stages, with the first phase calling for the installation of approximately 35,000 feet of pipeline and the lift station, at an estimated cost of $5 million. The total project is expected to cost approximately $12 million.

Current businesses along the corridor, at least some of whom currently operate on septic systems, would be charged a tap fee to be included on the sanitary sewer system once it is installed.

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Council approves plumbing for parkway

RANDALIA | Some of the 65 residents of this town complain their cost of living outweighs benefits of the town's status as an incorporated city.

At the urging of U.S. Department of Agriculture, which granted a loan to the tiny town in central Fayette County to install a wastewater system in 2001, Randalia raised its monthly assessment on residents to $32.

The city owes a little more than $110,000 on the loan, which matures in 2041, according to the State of Iowa Treasurer's Office reporting of outstanding obligations for cities.

Gary Lauer said he's been paying the monthly fee the past 2 1/2 years even though there's no water, sewer or electric service being used at the property he owns in town. An over-the-road driver, Lauer parks his semi at the site, which he also claims as his residence, sleeping in his truck.

"This is an old can of worms," Mayor Mark Amos said. "Everyone in the city has his own water supply, so no one was happy when the sewer system was put in if they had a perfectly good septic system. People weren't happy then, and they aren't happy now."

The council said until the sewer service is capped and structures on a property demolished, the fee will be assessed.

Resident Albert Baillargeon questioned why not all residents are billed.

"Why isn't everyone hooked up to it?" he asked.

Councilman Dean Teague said a lift station would have been required to serve homes on the north end of town at an additional cost of $250,000, so they were excluded from the project.

Originally, the assessment was $20 per month, but over the years that amount crept upward.

Link:
Randalia residents question why their community is a town

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Manax Plumbing & Heating Limited

Wherever you are, you are standing in a watershed. Whatever you do, you impact that watershed.

This includes all water use at home, all the things you consume that require water to make, transportation, all the things thrown away -- and how you dispose of them -- how much energy you consume, and all the things you do in your yards.

We only have two choices for our drinking water: surface water and groundwater. Groundwater and surface water are connected, so we need to protect both.

Surface water, such as lakes, streams and reservoirs need clean watersheds to provide us with clean water.

One thing you need to keep in mind is that as population increases, one town's water intake is not that far from the last town's sewer outfall.

Private water systems, along with public systems, are an important part of the water infrastructure for Pennsylvania.

One million homes and 3.5 million residents are served by a private water system that accesses groundwater.

Ninety percent of these systems are drilled wells, but there are shallow hand-dug wells and springs, as well.

We are one of two states left that have no private water well construction or location standards or regulations. Poorly constructed water wells are more vulnerable to contamination.

Many municipalities also rely on wells to provide public drinking water. This is why groundwater protection strategies are so important.

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Masterful Gardening: Take steps to protect water quality

WOODLAND PARK - The governing body this year plans to find alternatives to the Passaic Valley Water Commission (PVWC) plan to drain the scenic reservoirs at Garret Mountain. The borough also hopes to implement wireless internet access at more borough parks, and save residents' money with a plan to decrease flood insurance rates.

STAFF PHOTOS BY MATTHEW KADOSH

At Woodland Park's 2014 reorganization meeting on Wednesday Mayor Keith Kazmark holds a mass swearing in ceremony for dozens of borough officials and volunteers. Also shown is the mayor swearing in this year's Council President Joseph Spinelli while Councilwoman Rita Pascrell holds the bible.

Although Woodland Park may still end up in litigation with the water commission, the town is not looking for a "street fight" when it comes to comes to opposing to the water commission plan, Mayor Keith Kazmark said during his state of the borough address at the reorganization meeting Wednesday night.

"We will ... seek and discuss alternatives to their plan," he said in his prepared remarks. "Exploring the environmental impact, the possibility of working with the City of Newark to use the Ridge Road Reservoir in Cedar Grove to save the Great Notch Reservoir and working with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will all be pursued in the next 30 days."

The Record reported in April of last year that the two reservoirs are connected by a small series of pipes and that it would be possible to install larger pipes to further link up the two reservoirs for a sharing of drinking water.

In fact, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) administrative consent order which mandates changes to the reservoirs requires the commission talk with the City of Newark about the possibility of sharing the Great Notch and the Ridge Road Reservoirs, Joseph Bella, executive director of the commission said.

"Instead of having two, you'd have one reservoir that might have tanks or treatment," he told Passaic Valley Today. "It might be better off to put in tanks, but you have to look at the hydraulics."

The reservoirs already share water in the event that one is out of order, Bella said on Friday, but added that the plan to replace the Great Notch Reservoir is still about seven years down the road and that it is too early to intelligently discuss such a plan.

"Its not something that's on our front burner at this point because were trying to get the first phase done," he said a reference to the Stanley M. Levine Reservoir in Paterson. "We probably wouldn't start that for another seven years."

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Woodland Park council reorganizes with hopes of saving Great Notch Reservoir

1/9/2014 - West Side Leader

But the four men said they are ready to serve and face the challenges that come from their new roles. Rick Rodgers (Ward 1), Danny Grether (Ward 2), Dennis Pierson (Ward 3) and Paul Tousley (Ward 4) were sworn in at the Jan. 2 organizational meeting after winning in the Nov. 5 General Election. They joined at-large members Scott Pelot, Dennis McGlone and Charlotte Whipkey on Council.

Rodgers, 67, the new Ward 1 Councilman who was elected president at the Jan. 2 meeting, is a retired member of the Akron Fire Department as well as his own home improvement business.

In the election, he defeated Ted Weinsheimer with 64 percent of the vote. Incumbent Todd Bergstrom did not run for re-election.

Rodgers said he wanted to bring new leadership to Council.

After going to some meetings and seeing how things were going, I thought we needed some changes, he said. I hope I can make some changes for the better.

Since the election, Rodgers has been studying the citys charter and budget, as well as the citys plans to install sewers in the Nash Heights neighborhood due to Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates to address failing septic systems.

Ive really spent a lot of time on the sewer issue, he said. I know we have an agreement with the EPA at this point, but Im seeking out a less costly remedy for the problem.

Hes also concerned with the state of the citys roads, costs for the citys fire and police departments and the issue of vacant homes.

Rodgers said he knows most of the new Council members. He added he believes the new members will not hesitate to jump in and start working immediately.

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New members begin terms on Norton Council

The Port of Walla Walla's project to install a sewer pipe 40 feet under the Snake River has hit unstable ground.

The contractor, Apex Directional Drilling of Portland, has struggled to get the soil to stabilize enough in the first part of the project, officials said.

But Jim Kuntz, the port's executive director, said the contractor and port are continuing to work on ways to get the casing pipe correctly installed in the first couple hundred feet, which contains cobbles and loose gravel.

The line under the Snake River is a critical part of the port's project to bring city of Pasco sewer to the Burbank Business Park and the Columbia School District's three schools in Burbank.

The 120-acre business park allows commercial and light industrial zoning, meaning distributors could have warehouse operations with easy access to Highway 12.

Port officials hope offering sewer service will help spur economic development in the business park and Burbank area. Currently, the entire community of Burbank relies on septic systems to handle its waste.

Once the pipe casing is through the first couple hundred feet, Kuntz said the contractor will drill through basalt, which should be easier.

So far, port commissioners have approved spending $26,500 to install additional casing pipe, Kuntz said.

The additional cost is on top of the $1.3 million contract port officials signed with Apex, Kuntz said. But because of contingencies, the project remains within the overall budget of $2.1 million.

Kuntz said the port hopes to have the piping under the Snake River finished this spring.

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Snake River project hits unstable ground

MOUNT OLIVE TWP. The year of 2013 was marked with the tragedy of drownings and fires but also with progress on the development front.

Here are some of the more important and dramatic news stories of the year.

Boys Drown

As they had done before, Nicholas Michael Cianciotto III and Clyde Schimanski III, both 15, of Budd Lake, went out ice fishing.

But on this evening of Monday, Jan. 7, the ice was too thin and the two boys fell through the ice believed to be one or two inches thick.

Emergency workers donned immersion suits and entered the frigid water but were unable to find the boys.

The only signs of the boys were a cell phone and backpack found floating on the water.

The next day, rescue workers used sonar to help locate the Cianciotto boy but the body of the Shimanski teen wasnt found until the next day. It was the first time anyone had fallen through ice on Budd Lake and drowned.

A memorial to the two boys was soon erected at the western end of the lake.

Labow Chosen

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Victory, tragedy in 2013 in Mount Olive

MOUNT OLIVE TWP. The year of 2013 was marked with the tragedy of drownings and fires but also with progress on the development front.

Here are some of the more important and dramatic news stories of the year.

Boys Drown

As they had done before, Nicholas Michael Cianciotto III and Clyde Schimanski III, both 15, of Budd Lake, went out ice fishing.

But on this evening of Monday, Jan. 7, the ice was too thin and the two boys fell through the ice believed to be one or two inches thick.

Emergency workers donned immersion suits and entered the frigid water but were unable to find the boys.

The only signs of the boys were a cell phone and backpack found floating on the water.

The next day, rescue workers used sonar to help locate the Cianciotto boy but the body of the Schimanski teen wasnt found until the next day. It was the first time anyone had fallen through ice on Budd Lake and drowned.

A memorial to the two boys was soon erected at the western end of the lake.

Read the original:
Victory, tragedy mark Mount Olive in memorable 2013

Published: Friday, December 27, 2013 at 5:12 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, December 27, 2013 at 9:18 p.m.

All that preparation culminated in a long-term master plan the company submitted to the county Dec. 12 that calls for developing portions of the land with a balance of housing and commercial space big enough to lure large employers while putting large swaths of land in conservation with Plum Creek retaining timber rights.

The company is pitching the development portion of the plan as a way to address economic disparities on the east side of the county, while the conservation land would remove the ability to build one home with well and septic tank per every 5 acres, as allowed in the current agricultural land use.

The portions slated for development cover 11,000 acres of the 17,000-acre Windsor tract between Newnan's Lake and Hawthorne with a maximum of 15.5 million square feet of commercial space and 10,500 homes. The commercial space includes 8 million square feet for advanced manufacturing, 6 million square feet for research and development, office and institutional uses and 1.5 million square feet of retail and service space.

At least 30 percent of the developed areas must remain open space in the plan, leaving about 7,500 acres available for development.

The developed acreage would be reduced further if Plum Creek is allowed to concentrate homes and businesses over a smaller area.

The company is eyeing two areas in particular that make the most sense for development because of their proximity to Gainesville and Hawthorne with access to State Road 20.

However, developing the portion closest to Gainesville would affect wetlands, which is not currently allowed under the comp plan.

Tim Jackson, director of real estate for Plum Creek, said they could build out the maximum developed space without touching the 1,700 acres of wetlands within the 11,000 acres, but Plum Creek is asking to concentrate the development in smaller areas while affecting a few wetlands in the southern portions in return for greater wetlands protections on land to the north.

Jackson pointed out the areas on a poster-sized map during a Dec. 19 press briefing.

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A boon for eastern Alachua County?