Another idea for bringing sewers to the Village of Ortonville and parts of Brandon and Groveland townships appears to be dead in the water.
Village and township officials have entertained the possibility of a joint sewer venture with Genesee County during the past few years. The topic was brought up again in February, with representatives from the village, townships and the Oakland County Drain Commission meeting with officials from the Genesee County Drain Commission to discuss interest in a Kearsley Creek interceptor. The sanitary sewer interceptor, a large underground pipe that would collect wastewater and take it to a treatment plant, could be used in Kearsley Creek to service the east branch, which would go to Brandon Township and Ortonville, or the west branch, going to Groveland Township and Holly. Both branches could be served if there were enough interest from the communities invited to participate.
However, interest seems to be close to nil after the local officials had a conference call with Genesee County representatives on Wednesday.
‘It appears that the cost involved in hooking up the village and township to the Kearsley Creek interceptor would exceed the cost of building our own wastewater treatment center,? said Brandon Township Supervisor Kathy Thurman. ‘Even if they were able to receive government funding for 75 percent of the project, it would still exceed the cost of us building our own.?
Thurman said Genesee County officials? lowest estimate is that to just get the infrastructure to the county line would cost $4,790.96 per residential equivalency unit (the cost per resident). The village and township would then have to incur additional cost to build infrastructure for delivery to each individual home and business.
Ultimately, Thurman said it would cost approximately $13 million to hook up to the interceptor which only reaches the county line, while it would cost about $5 million for the local municipalities to build their own wastewater treatment plant.
‘We are going to confer with the joint sewer committee, but it does not look favorable that the committee will move forward with hooking up to the Kearsley Creek interceptor,? Thurman said. ‘We will further investigate having our own wastewater treatment plant. I have no idea if it’s feasible in this economic climate.?
Groveland Township Supervisor Bob DePalma agreed that the interceptor is not cost effective.
‘I highly doubt we will run the sewer line down here,? he said. ‘We only wanted it for the (commercial) development at Grange Hall Road and I-75. For that to happen, the developer would have to be willing to pay it, because it doesn’t benefit the rest of the township. I would be surprised if we did anything with it.?