Norwich council approves water line expansion

Norwich — The City Council Monday unanimously approved a $750,000 project to have Norwich Public Utilities provide city water service to 17 homes on Lawler Lane now served by an aging and inadequate community well.

During the public hearing that preceded the vote, Mark Perkins, Lawler Lane resident and chief operator for the Countryside Water Association, offered a brief history of the 1953 system. He said the homeowners voted last summer to ask NPU to provide water and discontinue the system, which would require expensive repairs and upgrades.

The project will be funded entirely through 20-year assessments of the homes to be connected to the system and will not cost existing NPU water customers or ratepayers anything, NPU General Manager Chris LaRose said.

NPU has applied for a 50 percent grant and 50 percent low-interest loan from the state Department of Public Health, with 25 percent of the grant for consolidation of a small water system and 25 percent for a project in a distressed community. LaRose told the City Council that DPH is expected to decide on the state funding later this month.

LaRose told the City Council that the $750,000 estimate is “very conservative,” and the final cost could be significantly lower.

The homes are located along Lawler Lane starting at the junction of Canterbury Turnpike, with the Moriarty Environmental Sciences Magnet School diagonally across Lawler Lane from the first home. The school already is served by the city water system, LaRose said.

Construction will be done in spring and summer, preferably after the school year ends, NPU officials said. The project would cause one-lane traffic at times in the construction zone.