STAFF REPORT
Operations Committee, February 4, 2010

Summerwinds Drive Petition for Water and Sewer Service (EN10-042)
Consideration of a petition submitted by the residents of Summerwinds Drive requesting water and sewer service
Speaker: Mr. Tim Bailey

From: Tim Bailey, PE, Director of Engineering
Prepared by: Jarrod A. Buchanan, PE, Engineer
Approved by: Benjamin T. Shivar, Town Manager
Approved by: Michael J. Bajorek, Assistant Town Manager

Executive Summary: On Thursday, January 14, 2010 , staff received a petition for water and sewer extensions along Summerwinds Drive . This project would extend water and sewer services to the properties located at 249 Summerwinds Drive and 253 Summerwinds Drive . Staff recommends the petition be approved.

Background: The residents along Summerwinds Drive have petitioned for water and sewer service in accordance with Policy Statement 23, Water and Wastewater System Extension and Connection Policy. The properties listed on the petition for water and sewer service are located within the corporate limits of the Town of Cary along Summerwinds Drive as shown on the attached map. The properties were annexed during the 2003 Town-initiated annexation, which became effective on June 30, 2003 .

Policy 23 requires that all sufficient petitions for water and sewer service shall consist of 50% or more of the property owners who own property adjacent to 50% or more of the frontage along the proposed water and sewer alignment. These are the last two properties along Summerwinds Drive that are not currently served by Town of Cary utilities. The properties south of this location along Summerwinds Drive were developed with Town water and sewer. The property owners north of this location along Summerwinds Drive petitioned the Town of Cary for the extension of water and sewer in October 2004, and that petition was approved in Staff Report EN05-047. At that time, the remaining properties along Summerwinds Drive did not sign the petition.

The two properties petitioning for water and sewer at this time do not meet all of the requirements of Policy Statement 23. The two requirements that the petitioning properties do not meet are listed below:

1. All properties petitioning for Town funded utility extensions must be developed, have an existing dwelling, and must not be undergoing expansion or improvement.
2. The minimum area of the petitioning properties shall not be less than a street length between intersections.

Even though the petition does not meet all of the requirements, Policy Statement 23 does allow Council to waive these requirements in certain compelling cases. First, the lot at 249 Summerwinds Drive is presently vacant. However, the owner is in the process of acquiring a building permit and starting construction on a house. This lot does not have access to Town of Cary sewer, and can not be issued a building permit until sewer service is available or this petition is approved. Second, these are the last two properties in this neighborhood that are not served by Town utilities. The minimum area requirement can not be met, since there are no other unserved properties.

As a condition of Policy 23, the petitioning property owner has agreed to pay their corresponding water and sewer development fees. The fee schedules which went into effect January 1, 2010 will be applied, upon approval of the petition. No connection fees would be charged to those petitioning property owners in the petition area along Summerwinds Drive who pay their development fees on schedule. Staff predicts that it can complete the project within 15 months of approval by Council. This schedule depends on the timely payments of development fees by the petitioners per Policy Statement 23, and the acquisition of easements necessary for the installation of the sewer main.

Fiscal Impact:
Operating: There are no operating impacts associated with this work.

Funding: Pending approval of the petition submitted by the property owners along Summerwinds Drive, funding would be provided by the water and sewer accounts created to fund petition initiated water and sewer extension projects. Project accounts, SW1087 and WT1094, were created during the 2003 fiscal year to fund water and sewer extensions to serve established residential communities annexed during 2003 and other communities as necessary inside the Town limits that do not have access to municipal water and sewer service. Project WT1094 currently has a balance of $1,714,451 and project number SW1087 has a balance of $2,470,831 to fund new petition initiated projects. In order to establish project funding for the proposed Summerwinds Drive water and sewer extensions, separate water and sewer projects would have to be created.

Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends approving the petition submitted by the residents along Summerwinds Drive. Staff further recommends creating separate projects to fund the water and sewer system construction as follows:

SW5016 – Summerwinds Drive Sewer Extension
Staff recommends creating a project in the amount of $80,000 under project number SW5016 to fund the construction of the Summerwinds Drive Sewer Extension. Staff recommends transferring $80,000 from SW1087 to create the construction budget. The creation of project SW5016 will reduce the remaining balance of SW1087 to $2,390,831 to fund this new petition-initiated sewer project.

WT5016 – Summerwinds Drive Water Extension
Staff recommends creating a project in the amount of $10,000 under project number WT5016 to fund the construction of the Summerwinds Drive Water Extension. Staff recommends transferring $10,000 from WT1094 to create the construction budget. The creation of project WT5016 will reduce the remaining balance of WT1094 to $1,704,451 to fund this new petition-initiated water project.