Lakeland Regional Sewer District Board met in executive session Thursday in Warsaw to discuss legal matters. The board discussed with its attorneys and engineering firms “strategies with respect to initiating litigation, including but not limited to the eminent domain process, for easements requested that have not been returned,” according to a statement the board released following the meeting. LRSD has received 85 percent of easements requested for sewer system installation and commitments for another 5 percent. Board President Dave Doctor declined to comment later Thursday on the possibility of eminent domain proceedings on the outstanding 10 percent of easements. Outstanding easements have increased project costs, which will result in higher monthly bills for customers, according to a Feb. 8 update on the board’s website, lakelandrsd.com The update cites time and effort in obtaining easements and the need to reroute sewer lines in some cases as reasons for increased costs. “The board is doing their best to keep costs down and hit the original target cost numbers, but unsigned easements are the choices of some property owners and the result is a cost increase,” the online update continues. But the percentage of easements that has been returned has allowed LRSD to submit its final design to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, and Doctor said they expect approval by the end of March. The plan goes next to the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development, which he said is a 60- to 90-day process. The board will then take the plan to bid for construction and expects to begin in September. That’s six months past what they originally expected, Doctor noted. He said the final design stage “was a bigger task than we all estimated,” but that they did take time to cut costs where they could. “Anywhere we could work smarter and improve the design,” he said. “Not to cut corners, but to cut costs.” He added USDA officials have related that they’re not surprised the project has taken this long to reach this stage. With the system set to run through about 2,000 properties, twice the average number, he said it’s one of the largest projects in the state. Some of those lots are empty, leaving about 1,850 scheduled for hookup. The number of exemptions from the system currently stands at around 40, Doctor also noted. Those are property owners whose septic systems are less than 10 years old and currently meet state standards. The board will discuss final design task review at its March 7 public meeting, at 6 p.m. in the North Webster Community Center.
