A new 1700′ sewer line and the raising of 11 manholes – required to provide service to the 1500 new residential units of the planned D.R. Horton Development – will cost the Town of Jamestown no less than $1,055,000, according to the January 2023 Development Agreement.
The sewer line and manholes were two of the items identified in a study conducted by Hazen & Sawyer water engineering firm to determine what needed to be done to provide service to the new residential development.
At the April 19 2022 Town Council Meeting, D.R. Horton attorney Marc Isaacson – according to town minutes – said he was “respectfully requesting a continuation of the hearings associated with the D.R. Horton project to the June 23rd Town Council meeting” because they (D.R. Horton) were waiting on the results of the Hazen & Sawyer Sewer System Study.
Council member Straughn asked Isaacson if the results of the sewer study was the largest issue. Isaacson said yes, and that it was D.R. Horton’s “biggest concern.”
The hearing was continued to the June 23rd town council meeting. The town planner, Anna Hawryluk, said the sewer study had been completed and asked public services director Paul Blanchard to share the results:
Blanchard said that the study had identified some minor inflow and infiltration issues, and that “PRIOR TO the development of HALF of the D.R. Horton project, the Town would need to address issues with about ten manholes (a number that has since increased to eleven).
Blanchard’s actual words, from the Youtube video of that meeting, were: “…prior to developing more than half of the D.R. Horton project as shown on preliminary plans, we need to address issues with about 10 manholes and one short (sewer) segment not close to the Horton property but further down.” Councilwoman Wolfe asked about the cost of raising the manholes. Blanchard said about $5,000 each.
The Study’s recommended next steps offered two alternatives. One was to divert sewer flow to parallel an 18″ wide Deep River sewer line “not currently in service.”
The other option was to install 1700 linear feet of 30-inch “gravity sewer upsizing.” (see page below from Hazen & Sawyer study)
In the Development Agreement, Jamestown agrees to pay for the 1700-foot sewer line at costs “likely to be well in excess of one million dollars” and raising of the manholes.
NOTE: The Hazen and Sawyer Study was conducted based on a preliminary schematic dated February 1, 2022, that was included in the June 23rd meeting packet. The current Site Specific Plan has an additional 500 apartments.
The Town of Jamestown owns 8% of the Eastside plant, for which Jamestown gets approximately 2.0 million GPD (gallons per day) treatment capacity. In the Development Agreement, the Town says its current treatment usage is 1.1 million GPD. The drafts up to and including the December 15 2022 version of the Agreement said the Town’s treatment usage was 1.7 million GPD. No explanation was provided for the drop from 1.7 to 1.1 gallons per day.
Jamestown’s meeting minutes and financials may be viewed HERE.
