Great story by the Lake Sun Leader about the upcoming SB city council meeting. Our proposal takes a long term look at providing all the residents and business the infrastructure they need to continue to grow. It also allows for expansion in the future.
Sunrise Beach, Mo. —
The Sunrise Beach Board of Trustees may soon get its proposed sewer system off dead center. Trustees are considering two proposals and two engineering firms for a proposed wastewater treatment system. With the potential to get funding sooner than expected, the board has scheduled a special meeting Dec. 20 to make a decision on what direction to take.
A few months ago, the village began to look at ways to phase the proposed sewer along Highway 5. Olsson Engineering was contracted to study the feasibility of a wastewater system for what has been called the City Hall Ridge area, basically the northern part of town. Its preliminary engineering report (PER) was provided to the board Dec. 12 for review. Schultz & Summers Engineering (SSE) made a proposal Dec. 12 to sewer the Highway 5 corridor focusing on commercial users.
SSE had previously declined to make a proposal to the village due to a contractual issue between the board and Midwest Engineering, which had completed another PER for a Highway 5 sewer.
SSE had reviewed Midwest's PER for free and recently presented its findings, which were positive, to the trustees. It originally proposed to subcontract with Midwest. Since then, SSE co-owner Stan Schultz said he has negotiated a deal to purchase the PER information from Midwest, if SSE is selected as the engineer for the sewer project.
While the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and USDA Rural Development had put off the village until the second phase of the water system had been operating for a year, SSE helped appeal DNR's staff level decision to shelve the project. Getting Sunrise Beach placed on the disadvantaged community list, Schultz with trustees Curt Mooney and Charlie Bott received tentative approval to get 2012 funding if the village could recraft the budget and turn in the revised PER by the first of the year.
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| Stan Schultz |
The construction cost had to be reduced to approximately $4 million. The original PER from Midwest had a budget of almost $7 million, but that project had included a larger capacity to allow for some growth on the system. In its Dec. 12 presentation, SSE proposed a rough plan to construct a minimum, basic sewer for the entire Highway 5 corridor in Sunrise Beach focusing on commercial users, which has been the main support and reason for a sewer system. Residents along the path of the collection system could hook up if they wanted to but it would not be mandatory.
Schulz did not have a complete PER to present to the board but said the revised PER could likely be done by the end of the week. Trustees decided to schedule a special meeting at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 20 to give SSE time to complete the revised PER for more firm numbers, and still meet the DNR timeline.
The board has not rejected the City Hall Ridge proposal at this time. It could also take the SSE concept and request a similar PER from Olsson.
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| Greg Williams |
Village attorney Greg Williams advised the board to make the decisions on an engineering firm and scope of project independently. SSE has no contract with the village at this time. The work done so far has been on its own time. During visitor comments, Ron Duggan thanked the board for their work and gave his support of SSE which has been working on a solution to sewer problems at his business, Captain Ron's Bar & Grill. The lakefront entertainment venue that is home to the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout event is being pursued by the State Attorney General's Office for violations of the Clean Water Act.
His is the most prominent but certainly not the only business in Sunrise Beach that has been in trouble with DNR over wastewater. The proposed plan to sewer the entire corridor could give Captain Ron's and the other businesses a reprieve as a more long term solution would be in the works. It could also provide a boost to economic development in the village.
Is there any further reading you would recommend on this?
ReplyDeleteAmela Jones
waste water services