NORTH WEBSTER – Lakeland Regional Sewer District cannot use any leftover funding at the end of construction to help property owners who want to join but don’t have easements, the board heard Thursday. Board President Jim Haney said the decision came down from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that funding sewer system hookups for some of the 60 properties without easement agreements “is not feasible at this point,” though he added that’s “not to say we won’t try again.” He surmised the amount of funding the USDA agreed to provide in the form of a grant – $8 million of its $28 million total project funding – was a factor in its rejection of the proposal. About 60 properties within the district were left out of designs for the collection system because property owners did not sign easements allowing line and grinder pump installation. While most of those properties will be required by law to join the system at their own expense once it’s up and running, three of them were recently purchased by new owners who expressed an interest in joining before then. The most the district can do for them at this point is provide specifications for the grinder pump that will need to be installed at their property, which they can use to get an engineer’s estimate of cost, the board heard – the district isn’t able to quote them an exact cost. Board member Bob Sanders remarked on the “burden we’re putting on people who had no idea this was going on when they bought their house,” adding, “I think we owe them something. “I think they had a flicker of hope that we could do something for them... We would if we could,” he said. “I feel for those people, I wish there was something we could do.” Construction is scheduled to start Monday, Casey Erwin with engineering firm DLZ Corp. told the board. The north side of Shoe Lake, at East Armstrong Road, will see the first activity as directional drilling is done to install force main lines. The board will send letters to property owners in the district informing them that construction is starting. The board also will focus on putting together specifications for electrical hookup to send to property owners soon. Also Thursday, board attorney Andy Boxberger told Stew Lambert, owner of Pine Bay Resort, that the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled that regional sewer districts are not required to use the same user definitions as the state Department of Health. Lambert had expressed dismay at the June meeting over the flat fee he will be required to pay rather than a metered rate.
