The Sussex County Council took some time on Tuesday, Jan. 15, to look at sewer districts and wastewater treatments throughout the area.
First on the list was a wastewater facility within Dagsboro and Frankford sewer districts, formatted to serve 16 single-family lots. According to Hal Godwin, assistant to the county administrator, the council had received approval from the county engineering department and DNREC, and he expects 90 days of construction. Council passed a vote Tuesday evening to execute a construction administration and construction inspection agreement between council and HKS4 LLC. Construction administration inspection costs are $36,444 and total construction costs are estimated at $242,960.
Wastewater facilities are proposed to be constructed in the Landing of Peppers Creek Revision 1, a.k.a. the Marina at Peppers Creek, located in the Dagsboro and Frankford sanitary sewer district.
Assistant County Engineer Russell Archut addressed council, advising upgrades of two sewer pump stations in Fenwick Island with a combined cost estimated at $843,045. The first pump station is located near Keenwick on Route 54.
“We received a loan package last year from USDA, and it was awarded last August,” Archut noted. “Funding is already in place to do the work, but we have to design the upgrade of the pump station and design the construction of a 7,000-linear-foot force main to a point downstream to avoid capacity problems in the existing system.”
The latter of the two stations is the main regional pump station, running from Fenwick Island to the south coastal treatment facility. The upgrades are necessary due to expansion of communities within the sewer districts including Sea Country Estates and Bayview Estate over the past years.
In addition, County Council cast a passing vote on a bid approval for Millville Sanitary Sewer District for collection and conveyance. The project will entail the installation of the sanitary sewer system along the north end of Railway Road, including communities of the Layton development, Denton Manor, Land of Pleasant Living and Denton Woods.
“This basically represents the last major Millville [sewer] contract that council will be awarding,” said County Engineer Michael Izzo. “Anything else beyond this would be for the remainder of the Route 26 corridor.”
From the 10 bidders, council awarded the contract to Teal Construction, at an alternative bid amount of $2.4 million, to encompass the above location.
According to Izzo, the Bethany Bay community plans to be working along the same corridor of Railway Road at the time. Cooperative construction and maintenance with reimbursements between County Council and Bethany Bay’s construction entity would disturb the public only one time, Izzo added.