BOW acts on Ivy Hills sanitary sewers, additional sewer project – Kokomo Tribune

KOKOMO The Kokomo Board of Public Works on Wednesday approved multiple projects related to city sewers.

The two projects one concerning future sanitary sewers in the Ivy Hills subdivision, the other a combined sewer overflow project to be funded through a recently-approved city ordinance are expected to bring relief to subdivision residents and satisfy the citys federal mandates.

At the meeting, the board approved sanitary sewer easements for nine properties. Currently, Ivy Hills has no sanitary sewers, something the city is hoping to change.

While the sewer service, or Ivy Hills sewer extension, wont affect flooding in the often rain-soaked area, it will help with the subdivision's quality of life, especially during a flooding event, say city officials.

Effectively, the sewers will allow people who currently are unable to flush their toilets, run their washer or complete other household tasks during heavy rain to operate as normal in flooding or near-flooding situations if they connect to the sewer.

As Kokomo city engineer Carey Stranahan explained, the easements are required to install the projects pipe. While most of the sewers are in the right-of-way, there are places where the city will need to go into backyards, he noted.

Stranahan said that once the city identifies the location of the easements, officials will meet with property owners to obtain them. The city is not being charged for the easements and still has a few left to acquire.

The project will go out for bids in the next month, said Stranahan, and will begin in late summer. The project will likely take nine months to complete.

While the project design was started in mid-2013, Stranahan said that obtaining easements has been very challenging, especially across the preserve property.

It took a tremendous amount of time to work out the details due to the [Indiana Department of Transportation] easement, he continued. INDOT restored that wetland in 2011 and placed an additional conservation easement across the property that we had to work through.

We didnt get that issue worked out until this spring. Also, there have been several residents who have been difficult to contact.

In total, 35 percent of Ivy Hills property owners petitioned for the project and will be required to connect to the sewer, said Stranahan, noting that their share will be $6,000 per lot. Those residents will also pay $1,250 for their sewer tap fee and be required to extend their lateral to connect.

Property owners who didnt sign the petition will not be required to connect unless their septic system fails, he added.

During Wednesdays meeting, the board also received bids for a noteworthy CSO project.

Bids for the project came from Indianapolis-based Wilhelm Construction for $3.4 million and Peru-based Boyer Excavating for $2.9 million. The bids were taken under advisement.

The project should be completed in early 2018 and wont cause any significant issues for residents, as crews will be in alleys and easements, noted Stranahan.

The purpose of the project, he said, is to reduce the number and volume of combined sewerage that enters Wildcat Creek at that point. In technical terms, Stranahan explained that the project includes placing five control structures in the CSO basin to use the pipe for storage.

The basin itself extends northeast from Memorial Gym to the Humane Society.

The pipe is approximately [84 inches] in diameter, so the structures are quite large, said Stranahan. In order for the system to be reliable and low maintenance, we are using special motors and actuators.

About the cost of the project, Stranahan said, The bids were higher than our estimate, but is still better than the alternative. He added that the city is also looking at value engineering opportunities.

Notably, the undertaking is a Long-Term Control Plan project the city has been federally-mandated to undertake.

Such projects will be paid for through measures approved earlier this year by the Kokomo Common Council. The council approved in April roughly $23 million in bonds for local sewage projects, an action that will be funded in part by wastewater fee increases approved by the city late last year.

The ordinance, which was approved by the council on first and second reading, continues the citys federally-mandated long-term control plans for sewage and flood mitigation. Included are CSO-related projects.

In December, the council approved an ordinance that increased wastewater and stormwater utility costs for residential and commercial properties in the city.

The measure amounts to a 9.7 percent increase, or $3.67 per month for the average customer utilizing 6,000 gallons, a total Kokomo Common Council Vice President Mike Kennedy called a "tremendous amount" for residential users.

At the time, Mayor Greg Goodnight said the reason for the raise was to help the city pay for the CSO projects. In the remaining 10 years of a 20-year long-term control plan, the city has $27.7 million in costs related to CSO projects. Cash on hand will also be utilized by the city for the projects.

More here:
BOW acts on Ivy Hills sanitary sewers, additional sewer project - Kokomo Tribune