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6 <br />eliminated from this count as not being a part of the community. One additional property - the Nunn <br />property (parcel 119) - was eliminated from the water main extension project as it was too remote from <br />the rest of the Rogers Road community (separated by large tracts of landfill property) to be reasonably <br />provided with water service. The remaining 113 properties can be separated into 35 parcels which <br />contain no structures at all and 78 parcels which contain one church, 73 occupied dwellings, 22 <br />uninhabited dwellings and seven non-residential structures such as shops. Eleven of the occupied <br />parcels contain more than one structure. <br />Nineteen households declined to participate in the 1998 survey and furnished no information related to <br />condition of household plumbing, water quality problems, number of individuals in a household or their <br />ages, household income, or even the name of the head of the household. However, the survey did <br />provide a count of approximately 123 residents in 50 households. Of these, 105 individuals could be <br />categorized as being within low/moderate income households (according to 1998 HUD criteria for <br />Orange County). Twenty-two of the individuals that were counted were at least 60'years old and 26 <br />were less than 15 years old. <br />The current estimate for construction of the Rogers Road water main system is approximately $550,000. <br />It is estimated that OWASA availability fees for all of the existing homes (including those not occupied <br />in 1998) in the Rogers Road community would approach $100,000. There are no reliable estimates at <br />this time for the potential costs of connecting all homes in the community to the water meters or for <br />improving plumbing in those homes which may need such work. However, it is reasonable to expect <br />that connecting all homes in the community to the meters could approach or even exceed $100,000 and <br />that another $100,000 would be necessary to make all necessary improvements to individual plumbing <br />systems. If the refusal of residents to participate in the original field survey could be construed to mean <br />that those households do not want or intend to receive municipal water service, it is possible that no <br />costs associated with availability fees or plumbing will be incurred for nineteen or more households. <br />This would represent a cost reduction of approximately $60,000 from the $300,000 total of availability <br />fee and plumbing costs cited above. <br />PURCHASE OF UTILITY EASEMENTS <br />The Rogers Road project involves the acquisition of approximately four acres of easement outside of <br />existing public rights-of-way or easements and across private property. The estimated cost of these <br />easements, if purchased, totals approximately $30,000. This cost was included in the $550,000 <br />preliminary project cost estimate. <br />As most of the project costs will be publicly funded, neither the County nor OWASA will have any <br />leverage (such as a reduction in assessment charges), other than the good will of property owners, to use <br />to acquire free or lowered cost easements. As construction of any particular water main segment <br />crossing private land cannot be undertaken until the necessary easements are acquired, acquisition of <br />these easements should commence very shortly. Accordingly, the BOCC must authorize OWASA to <br />begin negotiating easement acquisitions and purchase prices as soon as practicable.