Turkey Creek Sewer planning land sale
By Chelsea Los
Guest Writer
Turkey Creek Regional Sewer District board met Monday evening, May 17, to discuss last month’s updates. As the district progresses with the Eastshore and Northshore sewer project, the engineers and project team are preparing with easements and grinder locations.
As funds dwindle, the thought of selling extra land came up during the past couple months and was solidified Monday evening.
TCRSD has ownership of approximately 50 acres of farmland going unused, and while the talk of selling had come up before, nothing concrete had developed. That changed Monday night when the board passed a motion to sell the majority of that land, only reserving a few acres for potential expansions in the future. The district will reconfigure two parcels and put the profits from the sale into the general fund.
As temperatures warm, Tim Woodward, district superintendent, has been leading his team through prep work for higher flows. From completing water inspection reports to flushing iron from water lines, the group looks toward Memorial Day weekend as one of the first larger flow holidays of the year to test the system.
The TCRSD crew also worked through the repair of a crushed sewer line at Harborside Condominiums after higher than usual pump run times triggered questions. Woodward said the repair took several steps to narrow down the true issue, including replacing pumps and a corroded ball inside a check valve.
While the flow seems to be consistent and leaving plenty of capacity for summer changes, the district struggles with some of the technology associated with the lift stations. The team will move forward with pulling and replacing two control panels that continue to lock up, all installed around the same time and from the same batch from the manufacturer.
The meeting wrapped up with a few questions from the public members — George and Ann Xanders and Donna Johnson. Johnson wanted to verify the district had selected a gravity flow system for the new project (yes), and wondered if Woodward could estimate the cost. Woodward indicated every customer would have a standard $5,800 connect fee as well as a $100 permit cost. Each customer’s cost will vary after that, because they choose their own pump (if one is needed) and the cost is $20-$25 per foot of pipe depending on pipe size.
Xanders asked if the profit from the land sale would go to a specific fund or if there were any requirements around that. Jim Boone, board president, indicated the district will allot some of those funds to purchasing two new trucks and some additional expenses but the remainder would go into general funds.
The board will meet again at 7 p.m. Monday, June 21.