Sewer project postponed because of costs (10/18/05)

City officials announced Monday night that a project which could ease some of the burden on a lift station located on Portland’s west side has been postponed due to the escalating cost of materials.

The Gerber gravity sewer project has been set aside indefinitely because piping needed for the project has increased by $60,000 to $100,000, Portland Mayor Bruce Hosier said during Monday’s Portland City Council meeting.

The project also has been postponed because the piping is scarce, he said.

About 4,700 feet of piping is needed for the project. Wastewater treatment plant superintendent Bob Brelsford said this morning, most of the materials needed for the plastic piping comes from mills in the Gulf Coast region. Because of the destruction caused by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, the mills cannot operate. The plants are selling what little materials survived the hurricanes at a higher price.

Brelsford said officials with the companies expect the cost for the piping to be back in the normal range by January.

The piping typically costs about $28 per foot, he said, which would be about $131,600 for 4,700 feet.

City officials are hoping the cost of and the demand for the piping will decrease by the spring of 2006, so construction work can begin, Hosier said. Construction work originally was expected to begin this year.

The total cost of the construction work, at the normal cost of piping, has been estimated at $350,000. Once begun, the work is expected to take about 120 days to complete.

The 21-inch sewer will run south down Park Street between Votaw and Water streets, then east to an alley, between Middle and Pleasant streets. It will allow the effluent that goes to the north lift station from the Gerber lift station, located between Votaw and Park streets, to now just go to the Gerber station, then down Park Street.

Currently, the north lift — located on Industrial Park Drive, east of where the Wal-Mart Supercenter is being constructed — is doing more work than it can handle. At times, the lift station is so full it overflows when it rains, causing wastewater to run into a ditch.

A public informational meeting about the project will be held tonight at 6 p.m. in the Portland Fire Station meeting room, 1616 N. Franklin St., Portland.

Also Monday, council members granted a map change request, allowing a Portland man and his wife to build houses on a lot located on West Water Street.

George and Marilyn Loyd asked for a 2.14-acre lot located at 1015 W. Water St. to be rezoned from industrial to neighborhood business. The couple wants to build one or two homes on the lot and possibly live in one of them.

Members of the Portland Planning Commission voted on Oct. 6 to recommend the council grant the map change request.

Building houses on lots zoned neighborhood business is permitted in the Portland Zoning Ordinance. Several of the lots located near where the couple plan to build are zoned industrial and neighborhood business. There are many houses in this area and two businesses.

At the planning commission meeting, Jay/Portland Building and Planning administrator Bill Milligan said he thought it best to zone the lot neighborhood business rather than residential, so it would fit in with the surrounding lots.[[In-content Ad]]