Waitsfield is exploring the possibility of providing municipal septic disposal via a series of decentralized treatment facilities versus one large central disposal area at the Munn Field on Route 100 in Waitsfield.
The town is seeking Requests for Proposals (RFP) to administer a grant exploring decentralized wastewater treatment for Waitsfield Village and Irasville. RFPs are due today, July 15.
Waitsfield originally proposed one large wastewater treatment facility for voter approval at the same time its municipal water project was proposed. The wastewater facility was proposed in two phases, one to handle 18,000 gallons per day at the Munn site and phase two which would maximize the per gallon treatment at that site with a tertiary treatment plant so that it could handle up to 90,000 gallons per day.
Both projects failed when voted on at Town Meeting in 2008. The water project was subsequently brought back for a revote, twice, and ultimately passed. That project has gone out to bid now and construction is slated to begin late this summer/early fall.
In the interim, while planning and engineering and permitting for the water project has been underway, planners have also been discussing when and how to revisit the municipal wastewater project. Both projects are seen as critical infrastructure for the town, particularly to obtain a state growth center designation for Irasville as well as to create a Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district for Irasville. Both designations bring favorable funding, loan and grant incentives and the (TIF) district would allow the town to capture, as town tax revenue, the new value of development in that area.
Recently, planning commission chair Steve Shea and Joshua Schwartz, director of the Mad River Valley Planning District, wrote a grant seeking funding to explore alternatives to one centralized system. With Drew Simmons, who is the chair of the planning commission's wastewater committee, the trio approached the select board about exploring alternatives. The town received an $8,450 grant to explore the possibility of decentralized wastewater for Waitsfield Village and Irasville.
Last week, the town issued an (RFP) seeking one or more consultants to update existing information on septics systems within the proposed service area and evaluate wastewater needs in the area as well as wastewater dispersal capacity.
As proposed, an organized, decentralized, wastewater system would replace the currently inadequate and/or failing systems in Waitsfield Village and Irasville. The total cost of the system that failed to win voter approval in 2008 was $12 million and, at that time, the town did not consider decentralized systems, which can be less expensive.
According to town planners, the need for wastewater remains paramount for several reasons; there are failed systems in the proposed service area and adequate wastewater disposal capacity is necessary for the development of the $7.6 million water project, which is currently out to bid.
The work will need to be completed by November 1, 2010. The deadline for responses to this RFP is 4:30 p.m., Thursday, July 15, 2010.
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