Agenda - 10-20-2009 - 6c - Laserfiche WebLink

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2 Planning Director Craig Benedict and Assistant County Kevin Lindley have met directly with EPA officials in Region 4 in Atlanta and DENR representatives in Raleigh over the last three weeks to bring this phase of the process to fruition. DENR reports that its review and letter of recommendation to the EPA is scheduled within 10 days. The review notes an environmental Categorical Exclusion (CE), which should allow the project to move more expeditiously at the next stage (i.e. EPA grant award and then back to DENR for construction plans and specs permit review). This construction plan review has been concurrent with the environmental review. In the meeting on September 29, 2009 with DENR officials, Assistant County Manager Willie Best, Craig Benedict and Kevin Lindley offered the likelihood of state revolving loan fund (SRF) monies to complete both projects not covered by the EPA grant. As noted in the March 2008 BOCC abstract from County Engineer Paul Thames(now retired), additional monies would be necessary to complete the projects beyond the EPA grant and County allocated funds. The EPA grant is a 55% match and the SRF can be used for the local match. SRF fund repayment is not until the projects are complete, which will allow for a better horizon for debt capacity. The projects are scheduled for completion in late 2012. As a reminder, Central Efland sewer systems will be pumped to the Town of Hillsborough per an existing agreement and North Buckhorn sewer systems flow to the City of Mebane. County monies can be used for easement acquisition, engineering fees and an upgrade to the existing McGowan Creek Sewage Lift Station (part of the existing Central Efland sewer system) which was not included in the CJT engineering design work for Central Efland sewer extensions. EPA grant monies were suggested by EPA to be focused on construction activities. Buckhorn EDD -Mebane Coordination This information relates to the continued utility planning with the City of Mebane consistent with the March 1, 2004 Orange County/City of Mebane Utility Service Area Agreement. Specifically, the agreement includes the City of Mebane's agreement for utility extension by private/public entities into an approximate 1,000-acre EDD area. However, there were not specific allocations reserved for that area that would help Orange County obtain certified business site status by the State. In addition, utility design planning has not been completed to illustrate how an orderly plan of development could occur and/or how an anchor development such as Buckhorn Village could support the utility master plan for the larger Buckhorn EDD. To this end, Orange County, City of Mebane, Buckhorn Road Associates and its engineering consultants (Summit Engineers) embarked on a conceptual investigation to find out; a. what needs to be done, b. in what sequence c. for what design costs, and d. eventual construction cost. See Attachment 3 which shows preliminary ideas. As this information is refined, this topic will come back to the BOCC for discussion. The apportionment of funds to complete certain phases will be the subject of upcoming conversations. Utility work of this nature would likely be handled by a developer's agreement (DA) recently authorized by 2005 state legislation and/or interlocal agreements.