AGENDA #4e

MEMORANDUM

TO:                  Mayor and Town Council

FROM:            W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

SUBJECT:      Dedication of a Revised Sewer Easement within Pritchard Park to the Orange Water and Sewer Authority

DATE:            June 12, 2006

PURPOSE

The attached resolution would authorize the Manager to execute a revised sewer easement within Pritchard Park that would allow the Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) to close the Clayton Road pump station and install a gravity sewer line. The proposal includes the addition of about 250 linear feet of sewer easement between Library Drive and Estes Drive and the abandonment of portions of the current easement. Please see the attached letter from OWASA and maps.

BACKGROUND

OWASA currently operates a sewage pump station at the intersection of Clayton Road and Audubon Road. The pump station existed prior to formation of OWASA.  Although OWASA does not have any record indicating the age of the pump station they believe it was installed about the time the Coker Hills subdivision was established in the 1960s. 

The Town granted OWASA a sewer easement through Pritchard Park in the early 1990s as part of the approval process for the Chapel Hill Library. The purpose of the easement was for the eventual abandonment of the Clayton Road pump station and installation of gravity sewer lines.

DISCUSSION

It is OWASA’s goal to abandon as many pump stations as possible and replace them with gravity sewer lines. Gravity sewer lines are easier to maintain than pump stations and generally have fewer spills. OWASA has informed us that the Clayton Road pump station is one of their older pump facilities.

We agree with OWASA that it is in the public interest to replace sewer pump stations with gravity lines where possible. In addition, the extension of gravity lines would give several homeowners now served by septic systems the option of connecting into public sewer.

Impacts of the Proposed Sewer Line Installation on the Pritchard Park and Chapel Hill Public Library Projects: The proposal to abandon the Clayton Road pump station and install a gravity line is complicated by the impact such a project would have on a heavily wooded section of Pritchard Park. We believe that the required clearing for the sewer line would change the character of the western portion of the park by opening up an area that is now forested. During the upcoming process to design Pritchard Park it may be possible to alter the park’s design to take advantage of the proposed clearing by using it as some type of park feature.

Depending on the location of the library expansion the new line might have the potential to reduce costs for the library expansion project by providing less costly options for providing sewer for the new building addition.

Proposed Changes to the Existing Easement: When OWASA first approached the Town staff in 2005 with its proposal to build a new sewer line through Pritchard Park we examined the current alignment and identified several concerns. OWASA worked with the Town staff to create the current proposed alignment that we believe would accomplish several goals, including:

• The revised easement would avoid several significant trees that would be lost if OWASA uses the existing alignment.
• The revised easement would allow the sewer to be installed farther from the creek in several locations.
• The revised proposal would provide an additional bend in the clearing that would result in a visual barrier when looking up the easement from Library Drive.
• The proposal would allow OWASA to bore under Library Drive rather than extend the line down the road. We believe that locating the sewer line along the length of Library Drive would compromise the structure of the road.  The road was difficult and expensive to construct at the time the Library was built, requiring special techniques to provide adequate structural integrity and protection from subsurface drainage.  We would prefer to disturb the road bed as little as possible.
• The proposal would allow both the sewer line and a planned stream restoration project in the stream corridor between Library Drive and Estes Drive.

Schedule: OWASA has obtained a Zoning Compliance Permit for this project. It is our understanding that OWASA would prefer to install the new line in calendar year 2006.

RECOMMENDATION

Manager’s Recommendation: That the Council adopt the following resolution authorizing the Manager to dedicate a sewer easement to OWASA, such easement being located within the Town’s Pritchard Park property.

ATTACHMENTS

1. Letter from OWASA (p. 4).

2. Site map showing approximate location of the proposed easement (p. 16).

3. Survey map showing the entire proposed easement (p. 17).

4. Survey map showing the proposed easement south of Audubon Road (p. 18).

5. Survey map showing the proposed easement northwest of Library Drive (p. 19).

6. Survey map showing the proposed easement between Library Drive and Estes Drive (p. 20).