Agenda - 04-05-2011 - 5i - Laserfiche WebLink

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2 was available in the area, whether they connected to the sewer or not. In exchange for the easement and connection agreement, the county offered a waiver of County fees and offered to pay the current Town of Hillsborough sewer capital facility fee at the time. PROPOSED EFLAND SEWER EASEMENT ARRANGEMENT Staff proposes to offer the following similar agreement to the current easement grantors in the Efland area: • a waiver of the orange county $000 connection fee • a waiver of the Orange county $1,000 per acre availability fee • a service connection to be installed during construction of the system extension at no charge to the customer • payment of the one -time Town of Hillsborough sewer capital facilities fee, currently set at $2,572. In exchange for the above compensation, the easement grantors would agree to convey an easement to the county for the purposes of constructing and maintaining the sewer line in perpetuity. In addition, the easement grantors would agree to become customers of the sewer system once it becomes operational and /or pay the base charge every month regardless of whether or not the grantor connects to the sewer system. In order to connect to the system, the grantors would still have to pay to have their septic tank abandoned and to connect their plumbing to the service connection at the edge of the easement. Offering these incentives to Efland residents should not only speed the easement process, but should also serve as a significant incentive to encourage potential customers to connect to the system and become customers. In addition, whether connected or not, the payment of the base charge each month would serve to offset the additional overhead and maintenance costs incurred as a result of the extension. As mentioned above, this is the same offer that was extended to all residents in the Efland area in 1985 when the County was meeting with residents to discuss building a sewer system in Efland. Because 17 of the signers of the original 1985 agreement are property owners from whom the County needs easements, the Hillsborough fees for these "original signers" were paid by the county before the system was constructed and will not represent any added expense. In addition, these same original signers were granted a waiver of county connection fees as part of the agreement, so waiving fees for them does not represent a net loss of revenue. There are a few properties in the Efland area that have either unusually large easements, can not connect to the sewer system because of existing Land Use Plan designations (NOTE: Orange county planning, as part of the Efland Small Area Plan, has sought to align land use and utility potential and will be evaluating theses fringe areas to develop a comprehensive and cost - effective utility program), or have some other unusual factor that makes the standard package above less applicable. In addition to these easements, the county must purchase approximately one acre of land in the Efland area which will become the site for the new Brookhollow Road pump station. For these properties, a consultant will need to be hired who has experience with easement acquisition and appraisal and can help the county come to a fair agreement for the easement needed. NORTHERN BUCKHORN SEWER EASEMENTS For the residents in the Northern Buckhorn area, Orange county has less flexibility to offer connection incentives because that system will be owned and operated by the City of Mebane. In addition, the city of Mebane has already agreed in its 2004 service agreement with the