GREENSBORO – A special select board meeting agenda, calling for a wastewater project update, resulted in three unanimous votes to proceed and establish various aspects of the project after representatives from engineering firm Hoyle Tanner (HT) shared urgency to get the project underway.
Select Board Chair Eric Hanson began by noting Vice-Chair MacNeil has recused himself from anything related to the wastewater project on the Perron property and did not attend the Thursday, Nov. 21, meeting.
A wastewater project progress update was presented by John Reilly PE and Amy DeCola EIT with HT, an engineering firm contracted by the Town of Greensboro in 2020 to study and recommend solutions for wastewater treatment in Greensboro. After introducing themselves, funding agencies attending the meeting remotely and select board members, they gave an overview of a typical community wastewater system design.
The proposed system will include town-owned septic tanks where solids will collect and be emptied every few years on a regular schedule. Liquid effluent will be piped and sometimes pumped from the septic tanks through a collection sewer to treatment tanks and from there to a disposal field.
photo by Paul Fixx
A breakdown of the $4,871,000 in funding now available for the project followed, only $3,071,000 of which is available without hooking an affordable housing project to the system.
A review of recent project efforts noted a potential wastewater disposal site at 456 Craftsbury Road has been located and tested with a preliminary capacity of up to 5,300 gpd (gallons per day.) That’s significantly less than the 30,000 gpd which HT’s own 2021 preliminary engineering report suggested would likely be best suited to serve the Village.
Reilly indicated the available capacity would not be sufficient to meet the needs of the proposed RuralEdge Town Hall redevelopment project. He recommended removing the affordable housing project from discussion of the wastewater project’s next steps because funding requirements necessitate developing a preliminary engineering report (PER) by December 31. In addition, he advised a scaled down project to make use of the identified capacity by covering only a portion of town properties.
To meet that timeline, which would result in completion of the project by August 31, 2026, the select board would need to begin negotiations with the landowner by November 30, and confirm priorities for the service area, said DeCola. Other critical milestones would need to be completed by July 2025.
The board voted unanimously to move forward with the scaled back project after a period of questions and answers by the board, assembled community members and remote meeting participants.
Reilly answered a question about costs from board member David Kelly, saying the operating costs are unknown at this time. All costs to date have been covered by grants. The available funding of just over $3M should cover the entire project cost. Monthly user fees for similar systems range from just under $30 to just over $100 per residential unit. Thirty to fifty dollars is a reasonable estimate identified in a letter to the town.
Another unanimous vote established a plan to begin negotiations with the Perron’s, owners of the Craftsbury Road property, on the terms of a purchase and sale agreement, or an easement, which was preferred by Kelley, an attorney. The select board will make contact and begin discussions with the property owners.
A considerable amount of time was then spent establishing details needed to define the service area. Properties with holding tanks identified by HT will be given the highest priority. Those identified include Willey’s Store, the Greensboro Free Library and the former grange hall.
The system capacity could serve an additional 17 properties in a service area from the former grange hall, on both sides of Craftsbury Road south to Miller’s Thumb Gallery, Willey’s Store, on both sides of East Street and to the first two properties on the west side of The Bend Road.
Many wanted to give consideration to connecting the Greensboro Nursing Home. Reilly indicated it was too far outside the area to be considered for this phase of the project.
If an agreement can be reached with the Perron’s, a final design by HT and town approval will be needed by July 2025. That work will require the town to have obtained all of the easements required for the disposal site, septic tanks and piping for the collection sewer; all state and any federal permits required; pre-selection of any necessary treatment and drip-disposal systems; and an engineering services agreement.
Completion of those tasks will result in HT’s development of plans and specifications for bidding.
A November 15 Stone Environmental report on the property at 456 Craftsbury Road identified a possible system capacity ranging from only 1,800 to 5,300 gpd and noted the system requirement have been revised upward, from 30,000 gpd to approximately 40,000 gpd to serve existing and 20-year design needs for Greensboro Village.
HT’s DeCola said studies and the engineering work needed to identify the actual capacity of the Craftsbury Road disposal site will be done after the PER is developed and approval is given to develop the final design.
The search for a wastewater disposal site in Greensboro has been difficult because soil types suitable for such a system are difficult to find. USDA maps show no well suited soils in the lake and village districts, with only 37% well-suited in The Bend district. The village district shows 48% moderately suited and 38% only marginally suited for wastewater disposal.
A special select board meeting was called for November 26, at 4 p.m., to take up wastewater issues.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
