County, city bless utility plan
By PETER GUINTA
Created 05/25/2011 - 12:01am
West King trunk line would help draw in business
Summary:
A handful of West Augustine homeowners, cheered at the prospect that a sewer line would be built in their neighborhood in a few years, told a joint meeting of the St. Augustine and St. Johns County commissions Tuesday that they're worried already what hooking up will cost.
A handful of West Augustine homeowners, cheered at the prospect that a sewer line would be built in their neighborhood in a few years, told a joint meeting of the St. Augustine and St. Johns County commissions Tuesday that they're worried already what hooking up will cost.
The rare joint meeting was planned to discuss several items that affected both city and county, but the one that seemed most likely to improve West Augustine was the sewer question.
Construction of the lines, projected to cost $23.5 million, would eliminate septic tanks of roughly 1,250 homes in West Augustine and enable businesses to open there, providing jobs and an improved tax base.
Tami Ray, a project director at Black & Veatch, a global engineering firm with an office in Jacksonville, said that company specializes in finding federal, state and private funding for public utility and other infrastructure projects.
"(Financing) using only rates and connective fees means slow growth," Ray said, adding that Black & Veatch can formulate financial plans, apply for grants and handle the project's "comprehensive and time consuming" administration duties.
Black & Veatch has already handled projects totaling $4 billion, she said.
County Commission Chair Ken Bryan -- who has tried to keep this issue center stage since his election -- said the first gravity sewer in West Augustine, built in 1999, was a combined city-county project.
"In 2009, we renewed the commitment (to build a complete system) and determined strategies," he said. "The first of those (strategies) was to develop a master plan. We've come a long way. There's been a lot of discussion about this, with the entire community trying to get a handle on what's going on here. It's good to see the county and city pulling together. That gives us a better chance on getting grants."
Ray said the master plan can be leveraged to apply for various state and federal grants.
"Our job and our goal is to bring funding to our clients," she said. "You've already taken the critical steps necessary to prepare for the project."
Another B&V consultant, Tom Bryant, said King Street needs to be done first.
"Once that is done, they can chip away at other streets," he said. "This (master) plan is a great baseline. That document will be well-used."
Its health benefits, "green" aspects and new technology would help with certain applications, he said.
City Manager John Regan, another official pushing for more action than talk, said a connection policy for homeowners requires both carrot and stick.
"State law says that if a sewer line is in front of your house, you have 12 months to connect," he said, pointing to the city's experience on Butler Avenue, where 300 properties along that road had access to sewer service, but very few homeowners connected.
"It's a building by building, block by block process," he said.
Ray said the financing paperwork could be completed by June or July 2012 and after comments on he project by 13 agencies, design and permitting, construction can then be scheduled.
Three to five years is one estimate tossed around for completion.
The city's initial plan was to sell the entire utility territory to the county for $6 million.
However, the county didn't have the money and explored swapping coverage areas with the city, but that didn't work out.
County Administrator Michael Wanchick said, "We'd all like to see this a modern utility. The best approach seems to be the one outlined her today.
"It's taken longer than we wanted, (but) nobody's given up on the goal."
peter.guinta@staugustine.com
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