The town next week is scheduled to advertise for competitive construction bids for the Hawleyville sanitary sewer system expansion project, according to Fred Hurley, town public works director.

Bidding documents for the project have been formulated to explain to bidders the work required for the sewer project which is intended to stimulate economic development in the area near the Exit 9 interchange of Interstate 84.

At a February 2014 town meeting, voters by an 81-11 margin approved borrowing $2.8 million to be spent toward the project. Grant funds also will be applied toward the construction project.

The advertisement for sewer construction bids will be published on December 23 in several newspapers, as well as on a state website where such construction projects are advertised for bids, Mr Hurley said.

Firms which plan to submit bids on the project will be required to attend a conference on January 13, at which information will be provided and questions will be answered on the planned sewer system construction project, Mr Hurley said.

Submitted bids are scheduled to be publicly opened on February 9.

Fuss & O’Neill, Inc, the town’s consulting engineering firm, will analyze the bids submitted, providing information on the submissions to the Water & Sewer Authority (WSA), the town agency that oversees the two local sewer systems and the town-owned public water supply system.

Bidding documents, which provide the specifications for the sewer system expansion project, will be available for purchase for $150 by potential bidders. The documents include engineering drawings of the work required for the project.

So far, about 22 property owners have told the town that they want to have sewer service available at their about 25 properties in Hawleyville, Mr Hurley said. Those properties would be served by the expanded sewer system.

As currently planned, the expanded sewer system would extend from its current terminus near 164 Mt Pleasant Road eastward to the intersection of Mt Pleasant Road and Hawleyville Road. From that intersection, the sewer system would extend northward alongside Hawleyville Road and would also extend eastward alongside Mt Pleasant Road.

The sewer system would extend to 90 Mt Pleasant Road, a 34-acre parcel where a developer is expected to formally propose the construction of a high-density residential complex.

An expanded sewer system also would provide wastewater disposal for a proposed mixed-use complex off of Hawleyville Road, which would hold a 180-unit rental apartment complex, a church, and a diner.

The sewer system expansion is expected to take about six to eight weeks to construct.

Many of the sewer lines in the expanded system will be low-pressure sewer lines, which require trenches only four to five feet deep. Areas with gravity-powered sewers may require deeper trenching.

Because the low-pressure sewer system extension project involves the use of many individual “grinder pumps” to propel sewage through narrow-diameter lines, the design variables for the sewering project are somewhat more complex than that of a conventional gravity-powered sewer system.

The Hawleyville sewer system, which started operation in 2001, discharges wastewater to a regional sewage treatment plant in Danbury.

The town built its much larger gravity-powered central sewer system in the borough and adjacent areas to resolve longstanding groundwater pollution problems caused by failing septic systems. The central sewer system, which discharges wastewater at a Commerce Road sewage treatment plant, started operation in 1997.