Developers may be charged fees to help correct sewer problems

Craig Fox, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
·2 min read
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May 13—WATERTOWN — Developers could be levied a fee to help pay for future improvements to correct longtime environmental issues in the Western Outfall Trunk Sewer basin.

Last year, the city received a consent order from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to stop issuing sewer permits until it corrected environmental violations in the Western Outfall Trunk Sewer basin.

The DEC issued the moratorium after discovering that the city purposely discharging untreated wastewater into Beaver Meadows, a large wetlands west of the city limits.

To lift the moratorium, the city worked with the DEC to come up with an "Offset Plan" to correct the environmental issues in the basin.

The city was required to put together an inflow and infiltration plan for large amounts of water that flow down into the basin during heavy rain.

In April, the DEC approved the city's offset plan that allows for 30,000 gallons a day in credits in sewer connections for new development in the basin.

Under what is called "sewer banks," the city can get one-third credit for inflow and infiltration remediation projects that can be applied to sewer connections for new development.

On Monday night, City Engineer Tom Compo proposed a plan to assess "a one-time fee" for sewer connections for new development that would go toward financing those remediation projects.

Compo and former Public Works Superintendent Patrick Keenan presented the proposal to the City Council during a work session on Monday night. They wanted to see if council members would support the fee schedule before the city's proposed budget is approved in June.

"We're still not able to do new sewer permits," Keenan said.

Sewer permits still can't be issued to two homes, an affordable housing project on Commerce Drive and another on West Main Avenue and a retail project in the town, Keenan said.

For instance, a single-family home with three bedrooms would be assessed a $1,980 fee, or $2 per gallon. Depending whether they use 5,000 gallons per day or up to more than $20,000 gallons a day, commercial development would be assessed $2 a gallon, $1 a gallon or $.75 per gallon.

Councilman Robert O. Kimball said he thinks it is "inherently unfair" to assess fees on new development and not on existing development, which has caused the environmental issues.

Mayor Sarah V.C. Pierce asked council members to reach out to Keenan and Pierce if they have any questions about the fee schedule.

In the meantime, they are meeting this week with the city's consultant, GHD Engineering, to get an update on the issue.

They also are meeting later this week with Watertown town officials about the offset plan. The town has been instructed to work out its own issues of rain water ending up in the basin from surcharge from development in the outer Washington Street area.