By the end of this summer, Avon Lake Municipal Utilities (ALMU) and the City of Avon Lake will begin the approximately one-year long Belmar Combined Sewer Separation project. We invite you to attend one of two informational meetings that will be held at the Troy Intermediate School cafeteria at 7 PM June 13, 2012 and 7 PM June 20, 2012. Though the meetings will be similar in nature, the June 13 meeting will focus more on the actual construction taking place on Belmar Boulevard, while the June 20 meeting will focus more on the construction on the other streets. Both meetings will be recorded and will be available for viewing on the ALC-TV government channel (Time Warner 12 or WOW! 21) and http://avonlake.pegcentral.com.
With 2011 being the wettest year on record, 23% of Avon Lake residents experienced basement flooding. Sanitary sewer surcharges resulting from the influx of stormwater caused some of this flooding. To help prevent this in the future, ALMU and the City are doing many different things. One that will directly affect you is that as ALMU and the City undertake combined sewer separation projects, residents will be required to connect to the new lines with separate sanitary and storm laterals. Residents may complete the work themselves, or they may elect to use the contractor ALMU selects through a competitive bidding process. ALMU will subsidize part of the work, which will cost you no more than $2,650 and may either be paid in full upon completion of the work or may be included as a charge on your sewer bill for the next 10 years ($75/quarter) or 15 years ($57/quarter).
Some residents in the project area already have separate sanitary and storm laterals. Once it is confirmed that the sanitary lateral is not allowing clean water sources to enter into the sanitary sewer, these residents will not be required to install new laterals. However, if the residents want to take this opportunity to replace their laterals under this program, ALMU will offer the same terms above.
ALMU has applied to Lorain County Community Development for grant funding assistance for low- to moderate-income individuals within the project area. We should learn in June whether grant funds will be awarded to help these individuals.
We hope you will attend one of the meetings to learn more about the project, how it will impact you, and what ALMU and the City are doing to minimize the impacts. To keep current, follow the Twitter account @BelmarCSS or check back here regularly.
