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PLATTSBURGH — Moffitt Road residents have access to the Town of Plattsburgh water supply at long last, if they choose to connect.
Town Water and Wastewater Director David Comfort said that, as of last week, 35 of the 51 property owners along the line had applied to hook up. Of those, 13 had been connected, 10 are ready to connect, and two more are set for inspection.
Comfort said a number of Moffitt Road residents have had significant issues with sulphur water from their wells. It isn't a health problem, he said, but is an odor and aesthetic issue and causes corrosion to plumbing systems.
Not all property owners are required to hook up. Those who don't will have to pay Consolidated Water District charges but not usage charges.
The district's tax rate in the town's proposed 2010 budget was 88 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.
The line connects with one installed by developer Peter Edelmann to supply the Cumberland 12 cinemas at the former North Country Shopping Center property. That saved the town around 1,000 feet of line installation.
LONGTIME ISSUE
Town Supervisor Bernie Bassett said that after he came to office in 2006, he found letters and petitions from 10 or 12 years ago that requested town water on Moffitt Road.
"We were able to work with Peter (Edelmann) and Dave (Comfort). We found a way to do it."
The Water and Wastewater Department usually stops underground work Nov. 15 because of asphalt availability. Comfort said his crews will continue to make connections past that date unless there is extensive asphalt work or possible system damage due to freezing.
"People who haven't applied and want a connection need to get their application in," he said.
DELAYS
Luck Brothers received a $1.13 million contract in July 2008 to install the line. The New York State Department of Transportation required the town to bore a tunnel for the line beneath Interstate 87.
A permitting delay prevented the project from being completed that year after DOT wouldn't allow work in the median during the winter plowing season. That meant work on the bore didn't start until April.
Dean DeWitt, the DOT engineer in charge of the Tom Miller Road bridge project, was later chosen to provide on-site oversight of the bore project.
"He helped that go very smoothly," Comfort said.
The bore was completed at about the end of September. It was complicated by jointed and fractured metamorphic rock layers and slippery conditions that caused the machinery to slip off target and need to be reset.
It then took another couple weeks to satisfy DOT requirements, followed by system tests by the Clinton County Health Department.
GROWTH
The new water line allows an opportunity for growth along Moffitt Road, Bassett said, as lots can be smaller with public water. He said that once Edelmann and his partners are able to develop the former North Country Shopping Center more and create jobs there, those employees might be able to live nearby and face a shorter commute.
"Moffitt Road is exciting because of what we did and how we did it. This is a great example of cooperation between a developer and a municipality."
E-mail Dan Heath at: dheath@pressrepublican.com
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