AGENDA #4g
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Request for Sewer Assistance
DATE: October 27, 2004
The attached resolution would amend the Town’s Sewer Assistance Policy to permit use of the Water and Sewer Assistance Fund to pay for connections of individual property owners to the Orange Water and Sewer Authority’s sewer system.
BACKGROUND
On September 13, 2004, Mike and Meg Lanier petitioned the Town Council concerning the possibility of Town assistance to help connect their house located at 130 Weaver Dairy Road to the Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) sewer system (please see location map in Attachment 1).
Their house has a septic system that is failing and the Orange County Health Department has given them 30 days to remediate the situation. The Laniers estimate it will cost between $15,000-$27,000 to bore across across Weaver Dairy Road and tie into the existing sewer. Fees charged by the Orange Water and Sewer Authority will be an additional $1,768.
According to the records of the Orange Water and Sewer Authority, other houses on the east side of Weaver Dairy Road surrounding the Lanier property are already connected to the sewer system.
DISCUSSION
The Town has a Sewer Assistance Policy as adopted by the Town Council on September 9, 1998 (please see Attachment 2). This policy provides that property owners in OWASA assessment projects may receive a 20% subsidy up to $4500 per lot. Generally the Council has applied this policy to neighborhoods needing connection to OWASA sewer and participating in an approved assessment project. Currently, the policy does not apply to individual property owners who may need connection to an existing sewer line.
Starting in the early 1990’s, the Town Council has set aside funds to help neighborhoods with the cost of connecting to the public water and sewer system. The Town has funds reserved for water and sewer assistance totaling approximately $200,000 for use in neighborhoods which need connection to the water and/or sewer systems. On September 23, 2002, the Council re-designated these funds formerly reserved for the Morgan Creek neighborhood, and expressed its intent to make these funds available to other neighborhoods who may apply for water/sewer assistance.
In order to provide assistance to these petitioners, an option for consideration is to amend the Sewer Assistance Policy adopted by the Council in 1998 to allow the subsidy provided in that policy to be made available to individual homes where the Health Department determines a septic system is failing. The terms of the policy to provide a 20% subsidy up to at maximum of $4,500 would not change.
This policy change would help eliminate public health and safety hazards from failing septic systems, and would assist in improving water quality in the Town’s streams.
RECOMMENDATION
We recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution amending the Town’s Sewer Assistance Policy to allow assistance to individual property owners within the Town of Chapel Hill desiring to connect to existing sewer lines in instances where the Health Department determines the septic system is failing.
ATTACHMENT
A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE TOWN’S SEWER ASSISTANCE POLICY (2004-10-27/R-5)
WHEREAS, the Town Council adopted Resolution (98-9-9/R-7) on September 9, 1998, providing a 20% subsidy to sewer projects for existing neighborhoods with private systems by providing a line item in the Capital Improvements Program budget with a cap of $4,500 per lot based on the total number of lots in the project being subsidized; and
WHEREAS, on September 13, 2004, the Town Council received a petition from an individual homeowner for assistance in connecting to an existing public sewer line; and
WHEREAS, the Council desires to assist property owners within the Town of Chapel Hill with the cost of connecting to the public sewer system where the Health Department has determined the septic systems are failing, thereby removing public health and safety hazards and improving water quality;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Town provide a 20% subsidy to sewer projects for property owners within the Town of Chapel Hill whose septic systems have been determined by the Health Department to be failing, such assistance to be provided from Town funds reserved for water and sewer assistance with a cap of $4,500 per lot.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council authorizes the Town Manager to provide assistance to property owners within the Town of Chapel Hill pursuant to this Resolution and Resolution (98-9-9/R-7).
This the 27th day of October, 2004.