Hearing Set On Hawleyville Sewer Line

By Andrew Gorosko

The Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) will explain to residents its proposal to extend a sanitary sewer line into Hawleyville at a public hearing scheduled for Thursday, January 27, at 7:30 pm at Newtown Middle School auditorium, 11 Queen Street.

The WPCA proposes to extend a sewer line about 3,000 feet into Hawleyville from Bethel as a way to stimulate economic development in the largely undeveloped Hawleyville section. The $1.7-million sewer line would extend along Mt Pleasant Road from the Bethel town line eastward to the intersection of Mt Pleasant Road and Violette Road.

A town meeting for a vote on $1.7 million in municipal bonding needed to finance the sewering project is tentatively scheduled for February 22.

 Unlike the environmentally-based central sewer system that serves the Borough, Sandy Hook Center and Taunton Pond North to rectify longstanding groundwater pollution problems caused by failing septic systems, the Hawleyville project is economically-based, intended to spur development which will broaden the town’s tax base.

The central sewer system is in a densely built area, serving more than 825 properties. The proposed Hawleyville sewer system would run past only about a dozen large properties.

Because the $34 million central sewer system is intended to correct environmental problems, it received substantial construction subsidies from the federal government. The Hawleyville project did not receive such subsidies.

The January 27 meeting will be an informational session, at which the WPCA will explain the Hawleyville project and field questions from the public, said town Public Works Director Fred Hurley.

If the town keeps on its construction timetable, the sewer line would be installed by early September, he said. Such a schedule is based on the project not encountering any major delays, he said. Due to topography, the project combines gravity sewers and pressurized sewers.

The 3,000-foot sewer line would be the first phase of a two-phase construction project, Mr Hurley said. A second phase, to be built in the future, would extend the sewer line another 7,000 feet, pushing it eastward to the intersection of Mt Pleasant Road and Hawleyville Road, and then northward up Hawleyville Road to the Exit 9 area of Interstate-84. Construction costs for the complete project have been projected at about $4.8 million.

 Mr Hurley said how soon the complete 10,000-foot line is built will be based on the pace of development in Hawleyville. By comparison, the central sewer system has more than 100,000 feet of sewer lines.

The first complex to take advantage of the 3,000-foot sewer line will be The Homesteads at Newtown, a planned 298-unit housing complex for the elderly now under construction on a 60-acre site on Mt Pleasant Road. The Homesteads will pick up much of the construction costs for the new sewer line, Mr Hurley said.

Avalon Bay Communities, Inc, the developer of Avalon at Newtown, a 304-unit apartment complex proposed for a 40-acre site just west of The Homesteads, withdrew plans for Avalon last fall after encountering stumbling blocks in gaining permission to connect to the planned sewer line. The firm is expected to submit revised development proposals to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) and Conservation Commission after securing WPCA approval for a sewer connection.

Town officials expect that after it is installed, the new sewer line will attract development proposals for properties in the Hawleyville sewer district and for properties adjacent to the district.