WSA Considers Extending Sewers For Sports Complex

By Andrew Gorosko

The Water and Sewer Authority (WSA) has started talks with a developer on possibly extending municipal sewer service to a Mt Pleasant Road site where the developer wants to build a major private recreational indoor/outdoor sports complex known as Newtown Sports Center.

Extending sanitary sewer service to the 93 Mt Pleasant Road site is considered a key element of the controversial project, which would contain extensive facilities for sports club members.

Residents living in the nearby Whippoorwill Hill Road and Tory Lane neighborhoods have objected that living near such a facility would be disruptive due to the traffic that it would generate, the crowds that it would attract, and the sports field lighting that would be installed, among other factors.

Those residents are seeking to have the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) reverse its April zoning rule change that would allow such sports facilities in M-2A (Industrial) zones. The sloping 33.4-acre site is in a M-2A zone. Developer SEPG, LLC, has a purchase option to buy the site.

The developer is expected to apply to the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) and to the P&Z for various land use approvals required for the project. The facility would contain an estimated 500 parking spaces.

At a June 14 WSA meeting, Public Works Director Fred Hurley noted that SEPG has received an endorsement for the sports complex proposal from the town Economic Development Commission (EDC). The EDC has recommended that the WSA consider extending sanitary sewers to the site to provide wastewater disposal for the project.

The WSA is considering SEPG’s sewer service request under its “preliminary review” process. The developer has not yet submitted a formal application for sewer service.

Depending on the specific sewering layout that would be constructed, the price of extending a sewer line to the site from the Hawleyville sewer system could range from $3 million to $5 million, according to the town’s consulting engineers, Fuss & O’Neill, Inc, of Manchester. That broad price range reflects potential technical problems that might be encountered in extending sewers to the site.

Unlike the town’s central sewer system, which was built to resolve longstanding environmental pollution problems, the town built the Hawleyville sewer system to support local economic development.

The Hawleyville sewer system’s current terminus is a sewage pumping station at the driveway entrance to The Homesteads at Newtown, an assisted-living complex at 166 Mt Pleasant Road. The sports complex site is about 6,300 feet east of that pumping station. A sewer system expansion amid the hilly terrain would require a second sewage pumping station to be built near the intersection of Mt Pleasant Road and Hawleyville Road.

Sewage from the Hawleyville sewer system is discharged at a regional sewage treatment plant in Danbury.

Mr Hurley said that some capital costs for sewer construction could be recovered by the town from SEPG, and from the owners of existing developed properties along the sewer route, as well as from the owners of properties to be developed in the future. The recovery of such capital costs could make a sewer line extension economically worthwhile for the town, he said.

WSA Chairman Richard Zang stressed that the WSA’s consideration of SEPG’s request for sewer service is at the stage of “preliminary talks,” and not the result of a formal application for sewer service.

Architect/engineer Peder Scott, a partner in SEPG who represents the development group, said the four-building project is estimated to generate 25,000 gallons of sewage flow per day. Mr Scott told WSA members that plans for the projects are still evolving.

Mr Scott asked WSA members for aid in learning how best to sequence SEPG’s multiple applications to various town agencies in seeking approvals for the project.

“We need a straw vote or some form of review…to see if this [sewering request] is going to be viable,” he said.

Both the IWC and the P&Z have asked whether the developer will receive municipal sewer service for the project, Mr Scott said. Whether sewer service is provided would be a major factor in site planning for such a project.

“We’re looking for direction here…A sewer [approval] would assist in developing our parcel,” Mr Scott said. He termed the project an “extensive and diverse facility.”

SEPG hopes to start constructing the first phase of the sports center project in the spring of 2008, Mr Scott said. Initial construction would take about one year to complete, he added.

The initial construction phase would include indoor and outdoor sports facilities, as well as office space. Future phases would include office space and industrial space. One version of the overall project has been proposed to enclose more than 320,000 square feet of space.

Of SEPG’s proposal to extend sewers to the sports complex site, Mr Zang said, “I don’t think anyone on this [sewer] board doesn’t want to see this [Hawleyville] sewer system completed.” The town built the first phase of the Hawleyville sewer system in 2001, with an additional construction phase remaining to be built.

Providing the sports center site with sewer service would extend a sewer line farther east on Mt Pleasant Road than had been planned for the second phase of sewer system construction.

Sewer Funding

WSA member Alan Shepard posed a series of questions about how a Hawleyville sewer system expansion project would be funded.

Public borrowing was used in the first phase of Hawleyville sewer system construction, Mr Zang said. The WSA and the town at-large entered a 50-50 split to cover construction costs for that project, he said.

Various sewer system design decisions would need to be made in order to develop cost estimates for a Hawleyville sewer system expansion, Mr Hurley said.

Mr Shepard said that a $5 million price tag for a sewering project would be too high a cost.

Mr Zang recommended that WSA ask the EDC whether the town would help fund a sewer system expansion project. He also recommended that the town have its appraiser estimate how much money SEPG would need to eventually contribute toward sewer system construction. Additionally, he urged that Fuss & O’Neill more clearly define the construction work that would be needed for a sewer system expansion.

After discussion, WSA members agreed to have the town’s appraiser generate cost estimates on how much money the owners of the sports complex and the owners of other properties adjacent to a new sewer line would be required to eventually pay toward the sewer system expansion project.

Also, WSA members agreed to ask the EDC how much money, if any, the town at-large would be willing to contribute toward a sewer system expansion project.

WSA members also agreed to have Fuss & O’Neill create various sewer system expansion options to form the basis for sewer construction cost estimates. The WSA would also hold an informational session on a sewer system expansion project for property owners who would be directly affected by it.

Property owners with access to sewers pay both sewer assessment fees and sewer user charges. Sewer assessment fees are paid to the town across time to cover sewer construction costs. Sewer user fees are based on the volume of wastewater discharged into the sewers by individual sewer users.