More than 50 residents of Camp Springs crowded into a their local firehouse Wednesday, Feb. 23, to be heard and also hear from Sanitation District No. 1 of Northern Kentucky.
Camp Springs residents push SD1 to change plans
By Chris Mayhew • cmayhew@nky.com 10:22 am, Feb 25, 2011
More than 50 residents of Camp Springs crowded into a their local firehouse Wednesday, Feb. 23, to be heard and also hear from Sanitation District No. 1 of Northern Kentucky representatives about a planned sewage “force main line” installation through their properties that will not result in sewer service for them.
Concerned about a lack of sewer connection access, potential smells from the pipe’s air vents and disturbance to businesses and farms, the group had a neighborhood meeting for more than two hours. The residents peppered representatives from SD1 with their questions, but more often expressed their displeasure with the proposed route of the pipe and their unhappiness with SD1′s communication about details of the project.
SD1 is planning to build a 20-inch force main pipe between Silver Grove, Camp Springs, and the Eastern Regional Wastewater Treatment plant in Alexandria as part of the utility’s estimated $19 million “Ash Street” project to eliminate 38 million gallons of annual combined storm water and sewage overflows. The project is named for the street in Silver Grove street where one of the biggest overflows to be eliminated is located in a wooded area next to a city park where children play. The tentative start date for the 15-16 month project is slated for sometime in 2012.
Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery attended the meeting, and said the force main project came to the Fiscal Court’s attention as priority about 18 months ago.
Anna Zinkhon, one of the organizers of the meeting, set out an agenda at the beginning of the meeting and discussed topics including land devaluation, lack of benefits for the community, possible agricultural disruption, traffic and issues being researched including legal options. Zinkhon said she and other residents aren’t against cleaning up the environment, but are concerned about the project.
“We need to unite and stand together and decide how this project is going to go and how we’re going to be affected by it,” Zinkhon said.
Chris Novak, deputy executive director of operation for SD1, led a group of five managers who spoke to residents about the proposed new sewer line, and said any statement or terms the citizens group creates will be taken into consideration.
Some of the residents asked if SD1 has considered or will consider an entirely different route than going through their area. Novak said SD1 has considered other minor route alternatives, but not an entirely different corridor where pipe would be built because what’s proposed is the most direct route.
Novak said Northern Kentucky’s water intake is just downstream from combined sewer overflows (CSOs) in the Silver Grove and Melbourne areas, and the route sewage has to take to get to a treatment plant now goes through Dayton, Bellevue, Newport, Covington, Ludlow, and Bromley to a plant in Villa Hills.
“And all along the way there’s overflow points, what we call CSOs, where sewage can overflow during heavy rain events,” he said.
Tony Vogel said the farmland he owns has been in his family for five generations, and his past experience with the installation of a water line through his property left him unsatisfied because the site wasn’t cleaned up by the contractor until six months after the project was finished. Vogel said he wants written assurances his property will be put back the way it was, and that he won’t be held responsible if the line ever erupts and befouls his property.
“The property to me is more than just dirt,” Vogel said.
Novak said the more details about restoration, down to what types of grasses must be replanted, that people put in an easement agreement with SD1, the better the utility can hold the contractor on the job accountable.
Claire Neltner, one of the owners of Neltner Farm, said she is opposed to the idea of the pipe running through her farm and thinks SD1 needs to consider other alternatives, and hasn’t considered any up until now.
“It’s just like, ‘Oh heck, this is the easiest way to get there,’” Neltner said.
Neltner said she has greenhouses on the property that grow vegetables people buy to eat, and events like an annual fall harvest festival where people come and pick pumpkins and take hayrides that she can’t afford to have disrupted.
“You guys are bringing this through and there’s nothing we can do about it,” said resident Bob Johnson. “What about something we can use on the way down?”
Novak said if the Camp Springs community wants sewers, every resident will have to be united in both asking for and being willing to pay for new lines. Novak said one option that has been studied, connecting 73 homes in the valley near the force main will cost property owners and estimated $14,000 each to install.
“There is a way we can run new sewers, but it’s through an assessment project,” he said.
