Trent Woods accepts $524K bid as sewer plan advances on Home Services

Jan

Trent Woods accepts $524K bid as sewer plan advances

posted by admin in Sewer Septic

TRENT WOODS — A project to run lines from here to New Berns wastewater treatment system is a work in progress, regularly prompting grumbling from residents on disrupted streets to the town board.Thursday nights commissioners meeting was no exception, but a ray of sunshine came through as the board voted to accept a $524,000 Clean Water Management Trust contribution to the $8.6 million project that is otherwise being paid for by increased property taxes.Commissioner Ron Oliver, filling in for Mayor Don Day who was away visiting family in Mississippi, said he wanted residents to understand that the agreement requires all new construction to tap on to the vacuum sewer system but does not require those renovating existing homes served by septic systems to do so.Residential construction already in place is exempt from the tap-on requirement unless the septic system is condemned, he said. He also double checked with the town attorney to make certain that present septic systems can be repaired if not condemned.Concern over whether or not the town should accept the grant because some believed it contained the stipulation that all residents tap on was raised at a Sept. 9 meeting.Trent Woods applied for $3.2 million to help defray the cost of the sewer connection project but expects to receive only the $524,000 been brokered by former Trent Woods commissioner Drew Willis, also a former member of the Clean Water Management Trust board.The award represents about 13.5 cents on the towns tax rate for one year, and Willis cautioned about how easily it could go to needed town projects rather than escrow to pay for interest on the loan financing the sewer project.Oliver thanked Willis for his “perseverance and patience” in brokering the agreement.In other business the board:* Approved the final Harmatuk Subdivision plan that subdivides a tract into two nearly one-acre lots.* Learned the N.C. Department of Transportation will pay 80 percent of the estimated $49,000 to $55,000 cost of putting a sidewalk in front of Bangert Elementary School, with Craven County Schools paying the rest. Commissioners agreed to send DOT a letter of intent so plans can go forward to determine a total cost.* Appointed Jim Gregory of Trent Shores Drive to the Trent Woods Animal Control Board.Sue Book can be reached at ext. 262 or mailto:sue_booklink.sue_booklink..