Montgomery County Environmental Services spokeswoman Samantha Elder told this news organization on Thursday that the proposed sanitary sewer improvements to the properties along Maplecrest Drive are underway.
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“Months ago, Montgomery County identified a private sewer line that serves the residents of Maplecrest Drive in Kettering,” Elder said. “We found that this line was not built to our standards, is not in an easement, and is not able to serve the neighborhood’s wastewater removal needs.”
Elder said at the request of the city of Kettering, Montgomery County is continuing to work on providing vital public sewer services to the citizens in the Maplecrest neighborhood.
County staff recently completed dye testing of the homeowners’ existing sewer laterals.
“The county’s next step is to hire an engineering consulting firm to create construction plans based on the dye testing information,” Elder said.
After the sewer design is finished, the county will present plans to homeowners in a public meeting, which could happen in December.
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Kettering and the county previously have disagreed about who had responsibility for the Maplecrest houses.
Kettering law department officials eventually found records indicating that Maplecrest and other neighborhoods in northwest Kettering were originally part of Carrmonte Sanitary Sewer District, which was created in the 1920s. Since this sewer district was formed prior to formation of Kettering, the city said the sanitary sewer lines – and this problem – are Montgomery County’s responsibility.
The city noted that Maplecrest property owners have paid sewage fees to the county for the last 75 to 100 years.
The county initially argued the existing Maplecrest sewer lines are a private system connected to the public system, but in May relented and said the fix would be handled at the county level.
In an informational meeting with residents, David Swanson, engineer with the Montgomery County Environmental Services, told those affected that the county wants to move the connections to a private sewer line, then connect that to the main line, which would allow each house to have its own connection.
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The preliminary cost of the project is $241,890, Swanson said, adding that the figure includes survey costs of $17,900, which will be covered by the county. That would leave $158,990, which could translate to $1,282 per year assessed over 20 years to the owners of the affected 10 properties.
The payment for fixing the problem will stay with the property and not the owner, so if a property sells, the assessment remains intact.
Swanson said a private sanitary sewer line on Patterson has been used by the affected properties to transport sewage into the county system, but that line was never accepted by the county, and it was not built to the county’s standards.
Gary Wagoner is a Maplecrest Drive homeowner and said he has five lateral lines coming into his property from other people’s sewers. He is worried that the cost will be too much for some to afford.
“One way or another, the buck will be passed on to us,” he said.
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