Hondius Water Users Project Committee – 8/5/15 Meeting Minutes
Present: Jim Redman, Tim Breiding, Brandy Flanagan, Beth Coulson, Bill Rawsky, and Don Piepgras
The meeting was called to order at 6:08 PM MDT.
Jim reported on the meeting held August 3rd with the Engineer, and County and Town officials. There were five representatives from the Town of Estes Park. Together, the group went through a list of issues.
The first issue concerned whether a water reservoir would be required. It seemed that the Town would prefer a reservoir over a pump system for fire fighting purposes. They estimate a need for 200,000 gallons of storage to supply 1,500 gal/min for 2 hours. It would need to be located on the upper end of all the cabins to be served.
Our Engineer seemed to prefer a pump system from an economic prospective for the project. Additionally, upon a site inspection of the area, there was not an obvious area for a 200,000 gallon reservoir to be placed above the units supplied by the Hondius lines due to the mountainous geography above the units. The Town’s leaning to the reservoir option may deal with concerns regarding the future operating and maintenance costs of the pump system vs. a reservoir. A pump system would also require a backup power generator, whereas a reservoir system would not. If backup generators are required, it may be best to locate pumping stations near existing natural gas lines (Jim will pass on this suggestion from the Committee to the Engineer). The Engineer also asked the Town for recommendations on pump manufacturers if they had a preference.
The second issue concerns the service lines. In order to keep service line lengths reasonable for many users, the Engineer is trying to design the main lines in a manner that would be most equitable for the group as a whole. In order to do so, he is considering additional main (or semi-main) lines in areas below and above the current main line. The Engineer also indicated that it may be possible to obtain work on service lines at the same time that the main lines are being worked on and it was recommended that the construction company hired for the mains also construct service lines in order to save on overall cost. For unit owners replacing service lines, the owners would have to pay for their own service line beyond the point of the right of way – approximately 8 feet from the main line); however, if buried to sufficient depth, the unit owner would benefit from year-round water service.
There was some discussion with Town officials regarding the requirements for the existing service lines, including shallow seasonal lines. If such lines are not replaced the Town officials indicated that the unit owners would shut off the lines for the winter and turn them back on for summer usage. A committee member raised a question regarding potential cross contamination issues if wells or cisterns were to be connected. Jim will pass on the question to the Engineer and our County representative to discuss with the Town, e.g. will they allow cross connection devices (back flow preventers) to be used?
The group also discussed the question of looping into Town lines at Heinz Pkwy. That probably won’t happen as certain Town lines connecting to Heinz Pkwy are not large enough.
On the good news front, Hondius users should not have to pay tap fees, or at most 1/20th of the cost. Hondius has been using town water since approximately 1996. The rates include a service charge to cover the tap fees. The surcharge ends after 2016. Non-Hondius users electing to join the LID would likely be required to pay a tap fee.
The Town was asked whether they would be able to help out with some of the project costs? They responded only if some part of the project assists in some other part of their water system. Not likely.
Several places were discussed as possible meeting locations for a September meeting to discuss the results of the engineering study, including the high school, the Presbyterian Church, and the event center. A Committee member will investigate further and if there are other suggestions, let Jim know.
Next meeting will be determined when Jim hears from the Engineer on the preliminary map of the system. We will then obtain the map and have a call with the Engineer and County representative a couple days later. We hope to have the preliminary engineering study complete by the end of August and a meeting of the potential LID members by the end of September.