By STACY MILLBERG - Staff Writer - smillberg@starbeacon.com
JEFFERSON — The Ashtabula County commissioners will submit Austinburg Township sewer project plans to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for review.
The plans being considered are a vacuum sewer or a gravity system.
Smolen Engineering will be preparing the plans for the vacuum system.
The goal is to have the plans completed by the last week of November so they can be submitted to the EPA by Dec. 1 to remain on the compliance schedule, said Larry Meaney, director of the county’s Department of Environmental Services.
By submitting plans for both systems, the county will have options when it comes time to put the project up for bid, he said.
“It’s really important to get those plans down there with the gravity-system plans so the county is only subject to one review fee,” Meaney said.
The EPA’s fee to review such plans is $12,000. By reviewing both plans simultaneously, the county will save $12,000, he said.
Construction on the project must be completed by June 2010 for the county to comply with the EPA’s order.
“We want to be awarding this project by the late part of 2009,” Meaney said.
This will give contractors eight to nine months to complete the project. Meaney said the county most likely will put the project up for bid around July 2009. Before the project can go up for bid, a series of public hearings must be held, which probably will take place in early 2009, he said.
The project has caused much controversy within the community because of the high fees residents will be assessed. With the help of local, state and federal officials, those assessments have been lowered somewhat, Meaney said.
