Town OKs plan to extend waterline
Brookfield to tax affected homeowners for connection
BROOKFIELD — The town is moving ahead with a plan to extend a waterline after residents have complained for a few years of saltiness in their well water.
The Board of Selectmen approved Wednesday an annual tax for the Candlewood Lake Road water main — running from Nabby Road to Huckleberry Hill Elementary School — signaling the town can move forward with the project’s next steps.
The project was a topic of discussion at a public hearing the previous night. Before the vote Wednesday, First Selectman Steve Dunn discussed what the tax means for residents and how it will proceed.
The board’s assessment indicates seven of the 30 properties along the waterline are eligible to have their project costs covered because of their “failing or near-failing” wells contaminated by elevated sodium chloride (salt) levels. Some neighbors believe the road treatment for snow and ice has caused the problem.
Four homes are not eligible for the project to cover its connection to the waterline because tests showed the property’s water
levels are well below the threshold of any major contamination.
The remaining addresses in the assessment are homes that did not return test results to the town but are still able to connect to the water main if desired, at their own cost. The project would also cover Huckleberry Hill Elementary School at a cost to the town.
All affected property owners are required to pay for a fraction of the project, regardless of their decision to connect to the line, Dunn said. The amount each pays will vary according to four factors: acreage, frontage, dwelling units and the assessment value.
The town will pay the bulk of the project’s cost — about 92 percent — for the school’s use of the waterline, Dunn said. The estimated cost given
to each house is the price after loan forgiveness and the town absorbing
50 percent of the cost.
While each house will pay from
$130 to $400 a year over 20 years, Brookfield will pay about $79,000 annually, according to the assessment.
Dunn said if residents decide to hook up to the water main later, it will be far more expensive later than compared to connecting while the installation is underway.
Residents can receive a calculated estimate of their water bill cost with Aquarion via their website.
The project must be approved by the town’s Board of Finance, Dunn said.
The finance board discussed it at length at a previous meeting but didn’t formally move to approve it, Dunn said. He does not foresee the approval being an issue.
Brookfield Community Development Specialist Greg Dembowski
plans to meet on Jan. 11 with the Inland Wetlands Commission to discuss obtaining a wetlands permit. Residents who decide to connect to the waterline will have to tell Aquarion and town officials by Jan. 22. They will have to sign a limitedservice agreement with Aquarion acknowledging their connection to the waterline and low pressure accompanying it.
The design will be complete in February and sent to the Department of Public Health for bid approval in February with the hope to solicit bids for construction in April and hire a contractor in May. Brookfield aims to start construction in July — after settling contracts and inspections in June — and completing the project by November.
Dunn thinks the project is “the best thing for everyone when you’re balancing the town’s needs and resident’s needs.”