PRAIRIE GROVE -- Prairie Grove City Council approved a resolution last week to enter negotiations to accept untreated wastewater from the Valley View residential area.
The raw sewage would be treated by Prairie Grove's wastewater treatment plant.
In other action, City Council
- Amended the sign ordinance to allow larger signs for multi-family developments.
- Approved a resolution to apply for a grant for trails.
- Waived enforcement from the requirements for mobile vendors for June 9-11.
Negotiations will be between the city and Washington County Property Owners Improvement District No. 5, owners of the community sewer system that presently serves 492 customers in three subdivisions --Valley View Estates, Walnut Grove Acres and Meadowsweet.
The resolution states negotiations will include developing a contract for the agreement and establishing rates for the service.
City Attorney Steven Parker said he had a copy of the sewer contract between Fayetteville and Elkins to use as a blueprint for Prairie Grove's contract with the improvement district.
"We'll start hashing out details," Parker said.
Larry Oelrich, director of Administrative Services and Public Works, said the city would charge a rate that covers the city's costs but would want to make sure not to overcharge.
The improvement district is proposing two options to be considered during negotiations.
In the first option, the improvement district would pay to run a sewer line from Valley View Estates to the city's lift station at Sundowner Estates, for an approximate cost of $2 million.
In the second option, the improvement district would run a line to a metered location near Tristan Lane on U.S. Highway 62, then would cost share with the city in building a gravity sewer line from that location to the Sundowner lift station. Prairie Grove's portion of this cost would be about $820,000.
Oelrich told council members the U.S. 62 corridor is an important one to serve for potential commercial growth. In addition, Oelrich pointed out about one-third of the residents in Valley View live within Prairie Grove city limits.
"We have an obligation to try to serve them," Oelrich said.
In an April 17 email to council members, Oelrich wrote it appears partnering with the improvement district to build a gravity line would save Prairie Grove substantial money.
If Prairie Grove decided to build a gravity line on its own along the highway, it would cost about $1.56 million, compared to the estimated cost of $820,000 in cost-sharing with the improvement district, Oelrich stated.
The city would have to decide how to pay its portion, Oelrich said. Ideas include using money from reserves, using left-over money in the sewer bond account, a loan or looking at funds in other city accounts.
Jerry Kopke, Arkansas state coordinator with Communities Unlimited, a nonprofit organization running Valley View's sewer system, said he is looking forward to working with Prairie Grove to develop a mutually acceptable agreement.
"This is good news for us and I think it's good news for Prairie Grove," Kopke said after the meeting.
The next step for the improvement district will be for engineers to complete construction specifications for the project, to work on easement requirements and to lock down funding, Kopke said.
He anticipated money to pay to connect to Prairie Grove would have to come from loans because of the median income of the household service area.
Until improvements are completed to connect to Prairie Grove, the district will continue to haul untreated wastewater to Prairie Grove's sewer treatment plant. For now, Prairie Grove is charging $6.19 per thousand gallons to accept and treat the wastewater from the Valley View service area.
General News on 04/26/2017