Opening of bids for sewer project set for March 8

RED HOOK, N.Y. » The village expects to soon request bids for a sewer project that’s been planned for a decade and now can proceed because the needed wastewater treatment plant has been acquired.

The bids are to be opened March 8.

Mayor Ed Blundell said during an online meeting of the Village Board on Monday that the treatment plant for the 96unit Red Hook Commons apartment complex ultimately will serve 135 properties by way of 295 connections once lines are installed.

“It was a donation-type agreement where we take over the existing plant and build a second plant,” he said.

“The owners will become a customer on our system, which will [offset] what the principal and interest would have been,” Blundell said. “So there will be no upfront costs. It will cover all ... fees.”

The $4.9 million sewage treatment system is being funded in part with a $1.2 million grant from U.S. Department of Agriculture. The department is providing the remaining $3.7 million as a 38year loan with a 1.88% interest rate.

The village also has received a $925,000 state Water Infrastructure Improvement Act grant.

The sewer project has been slowed by delays in the state approving the purchase of the existing treatment plant and Dutchess County engineers sign off on a gravity-fed system of moving wastewater through sewer lines and into the plant.

Village leaders say the project will allow a switch from individual septic systems in the business district, allowing for commercial growth. They say the absence of a municipal sewage system has prevented new businesses from opening and kept existing businesses from expanding.

The project is expected to take about 18 months to complete.