WPCA Sets Sewer Connection Fee For Church

By Andrew Gorosko

The Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) has set a sewer connection fee for linking the Grace Christian Fellowship Church to the Hawleyville sewer system.

WPCA members set the connection fee at $28,500 to be paid to the town in 15 annual installments, at an interest rate to be determined by the town’s finance director. The church is located at 174 Mt Pleasant Road, near the Bethel town line. Besides connection fees, sewer-user fees are levied against properties connected to the sewer system.

A failing septic system at the four-acre church property is prompting the church to connect to the Hawleyville sewer system. The sewer connection fee for Grace Christian Fellowship is in accord with the rates charged to similar religious facilities in town, according to the WPCA.

The town health department had recommended that the church be connected to the sewer system.

In a June letter to the WPCA, Health Director Donna McCarthy wrote that the church informed the department that its septic waste disposal system had operational problems, particularly after extended rainy periods and after periods of heavy use. The area on the site that would be available for added septic system facilities is limited, Ms McCarthy noted.

Connecting the church to the sewer system will provide a reliable, long-term wastewater disposal solution for the property, Ms McCarthy added.

The town constructed the Hawleyville sewer system several years ago to spur economic development in that area. The Homesteads at Newtown, an assisted living complex, was the sewer system’s first user. Liberty at Newtown, a condominium complex that is now under construction, also will use the sewer line. The Hawleyville sewer line extends eastward along Mt Pleasant Road from the Bethel town line to the vicinity of the intersection of Mt Pleasant Road and Violette Road.