City and sewer district aim to save
February 2, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
The city plans to install a sidewalk along Southeast 20th Street, where the sewer district wants to install a sewer line. File Photo
Two months ago, a sidewalk project along Southeast 20th Street seemed destined to charge taxpayers twice for some of the same work because of bureaucratic logistics.
Now, new dialogue between the city and the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District has given officials hope for a more efficient road project.
“We’re going to discuss it at each and every time until we resolve it,” said Bob Brady, a commissioner for the sewer district.
Brady, a Sammamish citizen, is acting as a liaison to the city on the sidewalk project.
In January, Brady met with Mayor Don Gerend, City Manager Ben Yazici and the sewer district’s general manager, Ron Little, to discuss the possibility of saving taxpayers’ dollars by laying down a sewer line in conjunction with the city’s road project.Based on surveys conducted in the last two years, about 30 percent of residents on or near Southeast 20th have already said they want a public sewer line, Little said.
As an urban area, the district expects that as private septic tanks fail and the area builds out, more people will want the sewer line, Little added.
The city’s Public Works Department plans to spend $3 million in 2009 on adding a sidewalk and two bike lanes to the one-mile street, which lies between 212th Avenue Southeast and 228th Avenue Southeast.
“Our board recognizes that there’s quite a bit of savings to be done,” Little said.
In the current plan, the city would add pedestrian- and biker-friendly features to the road, only to see the water and sewer district rip it up a few years later. The city-district discussions pivot on whether there’s a way to put the sewer line in before the sidewalk, so work doesn’t have be undone and then replaced.
Otherwise, when the district installs its sewer line some time in the future, it will rip up portions of the sidewalk for side sewer lines, patching up the sidewalk afterward, according to Little.
If the city decides to repave the road — it’s not part of the plan now — the district would be responsible for replacing the torn up sidewalk and repaving the road again. That would amount to about $3.4 million for the district.
By installing the sewer line at the same time as the city’s project, the district would save about $1 million, according to Little.
But to save on that cost, the district has to convince residents along Southeast 20th Street to connect to the public sewer line.
At the moment, the district has two policies in place for laying down a new sewer line.
In both of them, 50 percent or more of residents must commit to paying for the district’s service.
“That’s been some of our dilemma. We just weren’t able to come up with the number of people that we needed to commit to this,” Little said.
In general, it’s difficult to convince developed neighborhoods to join up with a sewer line, Little said. Most times, the residents have working private septic tanks and don’t need public sewer service.
Gerend has offered to hold a few neighborhood meetings to rally support for the sewer line.
The commission could also call it a capital improvement project and fund the sewer installation through general district tax dollars.
That could mean a rate hike though, so Brady and other commissioners aren’t thrilled about the idea.
“We need to protect our current rate payers as well as trying to do it,” Brady said.
Little said the project was too early in the design process to warrant serious discussion about a rate change, though it was a possibility.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com. To comment on this story, visit www.SammamishReview.com.
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