The Bonney Lake City Council decided to move forward with two Utility Latecomer Agreements to supply sewer service to the northern and southern service areas of Eastown along state Route 410.
The move came during council members’ Feb. 16 workshop.
Total cost of both ULAs is estimated at approximately $4.3 million – $2.8 for the northern and $1.58 million for the southern area, and $1 million for water components.
Cost for the northern sewer service ULA is $25,214 per acre, $29,497 per acre for the southern portion and the water component of the ULA is approximately $20,185 per acre. “With the ULA, the individual property owner doesn’t pay anything until their property is actually developed,” Public Works Director Dan Grigsby said.
Grigsby said the construction costs are based on 111 acres in the northern sewer service areas and 54 in the southern region. He said the main difference in costs for both projects is the amount of sewer lines needed and how many acres the costs are spread over.
There are 21 parcels in the northern area and 24 in the south.
In largest property owners in the northern ULA area Compass Pointe Development with 24 acres and Clark Family Holdings with 15. The Ogle property, which consists of 15.7 acres, is the largest in the southern ULA.
Grigsby said before the city can move forward with financing and design, the council asked that dedication of the easements for a frontage road and sewer lines be provided.
He said the easement dedication form needs to be completed and signed by the property owners.
The form grants the city easement for public access and underground utilities, including private roadways and for other utilities under properties.
“All the property owners on the north side are prepared to give us the easement,” Grigsby said.
He said the southern property owners are drafting a letter-of-intent with all the landowners agreeing to the same conditions as the north property owners.
“The problem is that they can’t dedicate the easement because they don’t have a document that legally describes their property” Grigsby noted.
Easement are needed to ensure two frontage road can be built in one continuous location from east to west in Eastown.
After the utility lines are placed, if the city enters an easement to make a repair on a utility line, the city must restore the area to pre-existing conditions – costing the city only.
Grigsby said it’s one of the main reasons why public utilities are placed within the roadway, to avoid tearing up landscaping on private property when repairs are needed.
In a memo sent by Planning Manager Heather Stinson, she stated extending the sewers all the way to 234th Avenue on the north side of SR 410 would include wetland review and mitigation.
She added it would also include impacting Fennel Creek and all the permitting and mitigation associated with it.
Fennel Creek and its required 200-foot buffer extend north to south from 96th Street all the way to SR 410 across the Clark property. lf the city decided to allow an impact to Fennel Creek, extension of sewer beneath the creek could require state and local permits as well as a critical areas report detailing mitigation of impacts. lmpacts to wetlands also require these same state and local permits, reports and mitigation.
The cost of permitting for those properties in Bonney Lake’s jurisdiction can be minimal. The costs of critical areas reports and wetland/creek mitigation would run into the thousands of dollars.
Stinson also stated in her memo, the Aronson property is not within the city limits and any extension of sewers across the property would require permitting through Piece County, which could be costly and time consuming.
She stated Fennel Creek and its buffer also fall on the Aronson property and depending on the placement of the sewer line, the creek could be impacted by extending it across this property.
It would add a whole new layer of required review and permitting costs through the county, she noted.
Grigsby said an e-mail was sent Friday to all Eastown property owners containing a wetland memo, maps of Fennel Creek and wetlands in Eastown, along with documents reviewed by the council.
“We’ll get the easements, agreement on the lift station and bring it back to council,” Mayor Neil Johnson said.
Grigsby said a design for the projects would be competed in six or seven months and once a bond service agrees to fund the project, the city would like to see them completed within a two-year period.
