Town Seeks Grant For Trailer Park Sewer Line

By Andrew Gorosko

Having documented that the residents of a Sugar Street trailer park meet income eligibility requirements, the town is now seeking a federal grant that would cover the cost of extending a municipal sanitary sewer line to the trailer park to correct serious waste disposal problems posed by a failing septic system.

Elizabeth Stocker, the town’s community development director, said Monday a survey of households at the Meadowbrook Terrace Mobile Home Park at 55 Sugar Street indicates that a clear majority of households there meet low- and moderate-income requirements, enabling the town to seek a $315,000 federal grant.

Ms Stocker said 38 households, of the 51 households that responded to a survey, meet the low- and moderate-income requirements. There are 61 lots at the trailer park, five of which are vacant. Surveys were sent to the 56 occupied lots.

In the spring of 2000, the town had applied to the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DECD) for a $317,020 federal grant to cover costs to extend public sanitary sewers to the trailer park. But the state refused to accept the grant application due to the low response rate to the initial poll. Only 33 households had responded to that poll.

In a February 9 letter to DECD grant official Delores J. Capers, Ms Stocker writes, “Pursuant to your recommendation, we have undertaken a second survey of the residents in the mobile home park. The survey results clearly document that the proposal qualifies under the Low/Mod Benefit National Objective for the areawide benefit.”

Ms Stocker writes that if the DECD asks the town to submit a formal grant application, the town would fully document the income information.

“This [grant] request is a top priority for the Town of Newtown and meets the minimum eligibility requirements and threshold criteria of the state’s annual action plan addressing Connecticut’s housing and community development needs,” Ms Stocker writes.

Ms Stocker said she hopes to know within two months whether the town would qualify for the federal grant for sewer line installation. 

The town poll, which had been submitted to Meadowbrook households, asked householders how many people live in their mobile home, including family members and unrelated individuals. Also, it asked for general information concerning annual household income. In Newtown, the low and moderate annual income limit for a “family of one” is $35,150, ranging in increments up to $66,250 for a “family of eight.”

About 100 people live in Meadowbrook. Many units have single occupants. One unit has five residents.

Although Meadowbrook may not meet the state’s technical definition of “affordable housing,” the complex, in practical terms, provides affordable housing for local residents, Ms Stocker has said.

Following the inadequate response to the initial Meadowbrook household income poll, the town in December decided to redouble its efforts to get more Meadowbrook residents to respond to a second poll. 

Such income and residency information is needed to determine whether the residents meet federal requirements for a US Department of Housing and Urban Development Small Cities Community Development Block Grant.

The malfunctioning septic system for the trailer park must be pumped several times weekly to handle overflow conditions. Such sewage pumping is done to avoid public health hazards posed by the presence of exposed sewage.

In 1999, the trailer park’s owners hired Fuss and O’Neill, Inc., the town’s consulting engineer, to design a sewer line to connect the trailer park to the sewer system. The trailer park is roughly 2,000 feet west of the nearest point of the municipal sewer system. A low-pressure sewer would be extended from the sewer system at the intersection of Sugar Street and West Street to the trailer park. Grinder pumps would power the sewer line. Properties lying alongside that sewer line between the trailer park and the existing sewer system would not be allowed to connect to the sewer system.

The DEP has been working with the town in seeking to solve the trailer park’s sewage disposal problems. The DEP has maintained that the long-term solution for Meadowbrook’s septic system woes is connecting its trailers to the municipal sewer system.

According to DEP documents, the septic failure problems at Meadowbrook date back to 1984. DEP issued orders to Meadowbrook in 1984 and in 1990 to correct pollution problems. But, despite steps taken to solve the problems, more septic failures continued to occur.