Report to: General Committee Report Date: February 12, 2008

SUBJECT: Box Grove Sanitary Sewer System

PREPARED BY: Robert Penner. P. Eng. Acting Manager, Capital Works Right-of-Way

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the report entitled “Box Grove Sanitary Sewer System” be received;

AND THAT the Town not support the May 4, 2007 petition request from the residents on the east side of 9^th Line north of 14^th Avenue;

AND THAT the Town not support the request from the Box Grove Community Association Sewer Committee and Box Grove Community Association for the Town to subsidy a portion of the costs of a sanitary sewer local improvement in this area;

AND THAT the Town’s position be reported to the Box Grove Community Sewer Committee and Box Grove Community Association;

AND THAT Staff present the proposed Grinder Pump solution and estimated costs to the Box Grove Community Sewer Committee and Box Grove Community Association;

AND THAT Staff be authorized and directed to do all things necessary to give effect to this resolution.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Not applicable

1. Purpose 2. Background 3. Discussion 4. Financial

5. Others (Environmental, Accessibility, Engage 21st, Affected Units) 6. Attachment(s)

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to provide an update regarding the opportunities and options of providing sanitary sewer connections for the properties along 14^th Avenue and 9^th Line in the Hamlet of Box Grove for Council’s information and further direction.

BACKGROUND:

At a meeting of Council held on January 31, 2006, a report from the Planning Department on a proposed 22 single-detached unit subdivision located in the northeast quadrant of 9^th Line and 14^th Avenue in the Box Grove Community was approved with the following amendment:

“That staff report back to the Development Services Committee as soon as possible on opportunities and options and potential costs, if any, to provide sewer connections to nearby homes in the current Box Grove”

This issue was referred to the Asset Management Department for an engineering review and to report back to Council.

On March 6, 2006, four petitions were received from the property owners in the Hamlet of Box Grove requesting the Town to undertake an engineering feasibility study to determine the options available to provide sanitary sewers to the homes in Box Grove and to establish the estimated costs that would be levied to each of the benefiting homeowners.

Asset Management prepared a report to Development Services dated April 4, 2006 that was adopted by Council on April 11, 2006 that supported the request for $20,000 to hire the services of a consultant engineer to undertake a preliminary design and cost evaluation for providing a sanitary sewer system in the Hamlet of Box Grove. The funding was from the Waterworks Reserve. Council included an amendment to the recommendations of the report asking that the cost of the study be recovered from the property owners if the project proceeds under Local Improvement.

As authorized by Council staff retained SCS Consulting Group Ltd. to carry out a feasibility study to evaluate and develop a cost estimate to provide sanitary services to the non-serviced homes in Box Grove.

OPTIONS/ DISCUSSION:

Sanitary Sewer Connection Options

Attachment “1” is a map of the Box Grove Community which illustrates the Box Grove area. Area B, located east of Area A, is not included in the study. This area is owned by developers that plan on providing sanitary servicing southerly to the 14^th Avenue, through private property by public easement on the south side of 14^th Avenue and outleting to the sewer constructed in the new subdivision south and east of the Hamlet.

Public Information Meeting- Servicing Scheme and Estimated Costs

SCS Consulting group prepared preliminary designs and cost estimates for the installation of sanitary sewers to service all of these areas. The cost estimates were presented to the residents at a public information meeting held on February 28, 2007. The total estimated cost to service all the properties in Box Grove if constructed as one large project was $3,809,500. The cost if shared equally by all 100 benefiting property owners was $38,095 per household.

Community’s Request for Further Information

At the February 28, 2007 public information meeting, residents requested that the Town further break down the costs into smaller components based on specific drainage areas according to the following:

· A & F: East of 9^th Line north of 14^th Avenue plus one property south of 14^th Ave and west of 9^th line

· C & D: 14^th Ave between 9^th Line and 9^th Line By-Pass plus 9^th Line south of 14^th Ave

· E: Ridgevale Drive/Rouge River Circle area

SCS Consulting Group undertook the calculations and the information was presented at a subsequent meeting with the Box Grove Ratepayers Steering Committee on April 26, 2007.

Impact Allowance Fund

At the April 26, 2007 meeting, in response to the concerns from the Ratepayers Steering Committee about the high cost of the project, the residents enquired about the use of the $500,000 Impact Allowance Fund that was given to the Town by the Box Grove Developers Group to pay for various community based projects. The residents requested that these funds be used to subsidize the cost of the sanitary sewer local improvement project. The Planning Department submitted a report to the February 19, 2008 Development Services Committee detailing various options on how these funds should be spent for the benefit of the community. This report considers that local improvement costs for the installation of sanitary sewers that do not serve a clear public benefit to the whole community but benefit individual properties should be a private responsibility and paid for entirely by the benefiting property owners,

Rear Lot Connection Petition

In 1998 the homes along the west side of 9^th Line north of 14^th Avenue were provided sanitary service connections at the rear limit of their lots through the new lots developed by Minto located west of 9^th Line. On May 4, 2007, the residents on the east side submitted the following petition requesting the same treatment as those on the west side:

“This study should not include the properties on the East side of the 9^th Line north of 14^th Ave. The proposal should include the same Internal Development Sewers afforded by the Minto/IBM Project on the West side of the 9^th Line, north of 14^th Ave to the residents there, agreed to by the Town of Markham in 1996. The same agreement should apply to this Development. Sanitary connections were provided to the residents of the West side of the 9^th Line north of 14^th Ave. After the agreement from the Town of Markham, that both the East and West side would be provided from future internal Development, anything less would be a retraction offered by the Town of Markham.

This is a petition signed by the residents on the East side of the 9^th Line north of 14^th Ave.”

The Asset Management, Engineering and Operations Departments do not support rear and side yard service connections. These types of service connections located in back yards and through narrow side yards if constructed will be very difficult and costly to maintain in the future. Future repairs to these connections would be compromised by the close proximity of buildings, tight spaces, and encumbrances from private fences, sidewalks, pools, patios, trees and other landscaping features. Connections to sewers are recommended to be made at the front property line so that access is freely available to inspect or repair any service connections. The developer is also not supportive of this request because it will compromise the layout of his development.

Meeting With Ratepayers Steering Committee September 17, 2007

Staff met again with the Ratepayers Steering Committee on September 17, 2007 to discuss the overall sewer project and the specific petition received from the residents in area A .

A letter dated September 25, 2007 was subsequently submitted to the Town from the Box Grove Community Association Sewer Committee and the Box Grove Community Association (Attachment 2). The letter requested that in exchange for not supporting the rear yard servicing request from the residents on the east side of Ninth Line, north of 14^th that the Town pay for a portion of the construction of a main sanitary sewer on 9^th Line north of 16^th Avenue. This request is based on the Town paying for the local improvement costs for the existing homes on the west side that have service connections and therefore would not be contributing to the local improvement project. There are 11 homes on the west side and their share of the costs under this option would be approximately $380,000.

Staff have reviewed this request and find no precedent that would lead to a recommendation to deviate from the Council practice of requiring the full cost of a local improvement to be paid for by the benefiting residents. Residents already connected to the sanitary sewer system would not normally be required to participate in a local improvement project where there would be no additional benefit.

The letter also requested that the Town’s Project Management Fee be reduced to lower the overall cost of the project. It is staff’s position that the project management cost is fully a part of managing and completing this project and that any reduction in its value will constitute a subsidy to this project which is not being supported by staff.

Grinder Pump Technology

Area E in Attachment 1 requires a pumping station to service the proposed sanitary sewer system under traditional engineering methods. Staff have investigated a relatively new technology in this area employing the use of grinder pumps. With this system, each individual house has its own grinder pump which grinds and pumps the sewage into a low pressure line along the street. All pumps work together to pump the sewage to the upper end of the street where it is deposited into a manhole and then flows by gravity as in a normal sanitary sewer system. A pumping station is not required when this solution is employed and the overall cost for the total system is much more economical. This technology is currently being employed in the Buttonville Cres area of the Town as well as in many other municipalities in Ontario.

Staff has received a preliminary estimate from a supplier of this technology for Area E in the Box Grove area. It is estimated that by employing this technology the total cost in Area E would be decreased by $1,400,000 or $32,000 per lot. This would decrease the per lot contributions for all areas by approximately $14,000. The homeowner would be required to purchase the grinder pump and piping at an approximate cost of $9,000. Individual costs for traditional sewer hook ups could also reach a similar $9,000 level for open cut pipe construction to the homeowner’s house. Public side costs for both options by area are summarized in Attachment 3.

Conclusions

It is recommended that the Town not support backyard servicing to the lots on the east side of 9^th Line north of 14^th Avenue and that the Town not subsidize any part of a future local improvement request. Staff further recommends that these positions be reported back to the Box Grove Community Sewer Committee and Box Grove Community Association. In addition, Staff recommends that the information and costs associated with servicing the Box Grove Community including the option to use Grinder Pump technology with the associated cost savings be presented to the Box Grove Community Sewer Committee and Box Grove Community Association.

The residents will need to come to a consensus as per the Municipal Act and respond to the Town with a formal request if they wish to move forward with implementing this project and move it forward.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS AND TEMPLATE: (external link)

Not applicable

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Not applicable

ACCESSIBILITY CONSIDERATIONS:

Not applicable

ENGAGE 21^ST CONSIDERATIONS:

Not applicable

BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:

Not applicable

RECOMMENDED BY:

________________________ ________________________

Steve Andrews, P. Eng. Peter Loukes, P. Eng.

Director of Asset Management Commission Lead, Operations and Asset Management

ATTACHMENTS:

Attachment 1 – Proposed Sanitary Sewer Servicing

Attachment 2 – Letter from Box Grove Community Association

Attachment 3 – Cost Estimates for Sanitary Servicing – Box Grove

Q:\Commission Share\Operations and Asset Management\Reports\2007\Asset Management\ROW Assets\Box Grove Sanitary Sewer System - Update 2.doc