The owners of 15 Hawleyville properties have informed the town that they want their properties to connect to the planned expansion of the Hawleyville sanitary sewer system, thus triggering the planning process for installation of the sewers, which are intended to spur local economic development.

Fred Hurley, town director of public works, said June 17 that the 15 properties include existing residential and commercial uses, as well as currently undeveloped commercial properties.

Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) officials had expected that the owners of between eight and 12 properties would initially express interest in connecting to the planned sewer system.

Mr Hurley noted that the owners of a mobile home park known as Midway Home Estates at 160 Mt Pleasant Road have expressed interest in connecting to the expanded Hawleyville sewer system. That site holds approximately 25 mobile homes.

Mr Hurley said he hopes that construction of the sewer system expansion starts before the end of summer. Construction work is projected to take about six weeks.

At a June 12 meeting, WSA members approved a draft proposal from its consulting engineering firm, Fuss & O’Neill Inc of Manchester, for the design of the Hawleyville sewer expansion project. The WSA plans to make several reviews the project’s design as design work progresses.

In May, WSA members held an informational session to explain the sewer system expansion project, as well as seek commitments for sewer connections from property owners who own land along the planned sewer route.

The capital costs of sewer system construction would be covered by payments from the property owners who connect to the expanded system. Such capital costs would be paid off by the property owners at low interest rates during a 20-year period. Sewer users also pay sewer connection fees and sewer usage charges.

At a February town meeting, voters by an 81-to-11 margin approved borrowing $2.8 million to expand the Hawleyville sewer system as a means to spur local economic development.

The town recently received a $500,000 state grant that will be used toward the sewer expansion project.

Because the Hawleyville sewer expansion project is keyed to economic development, and is not based on the need to resolve existing groundwater pollution problems resulting from failing sewer systems, connecting to the Hawleyville sewer extension will be optional.

After some sewer-system design planning is done and the specific cost implications of the project for individual sewer users are clear, those land owners would be asked to sign a formal agreement requiring them to pay the town some fraction of the sewering project’s overall capital costs across a 20-year period.

The Hawleyville sewer system expansion would extend sewer lines from 166 Mt Pleasant Road eastward along Mt Pleasant Road to its intersection with Hawleyville Road. The sewer mains also would extend northward along sections of Hawleyville Road and Covered Bridge Road.