USDA grant to fund St. Agatha sewer extension

ST. AGATHA – While some communities work years to get sewer construction money, St. Agatha received word Monday morning that the town will be getting a $1.7 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Agency to construct a sewer line extension to an island in Long Lake.

Rural Development has also approved a loan of $578,000 for the project.

The $2.3 million project includes 20,500 feet of sewer line extension, including a double line under 2,200 feet of Long Lake to Pelletier Island. The island has 55 camps and homes on it.

St. Agatha Town Manager Ryan Pelletier said word was received Monday morning from USDA and Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

“We are awfully pleased with this,” Pelletier said. “Paul [Bernier, the town’s economic development director] worked really hard on this since we started with the idea.

“We started thinking about sewer line extensions on Cleveland Road last January, and the island was added because the number of residents on Cleveland Road was not adequate,” he said. “Paul has put in a lot of hours on this project.”

The sewer line will be extended along Cleveland Road some 8,500 feet. Some 35 to 40 new users will be added on that section, Pelletier said.

Pelletier explained that the double pipeline, one pipe inside a larger pipe, to the island will go from a old boat landing on Cleveland Road to the island.

Two lines will be installed on the island, on the west and east sides, to all the camps. There will be a 1,500-foot section on the island with no sewer lines. He said there are no camps on the southern end of the island.

The environmental assessment process took about four months of the planning time for the project.

The Pelletier Island Association, according to the town manager, supports the idea of having sewer lines on the island.

“We are probably eliminating straight pipe discharges to the lake, both on the island and Cleveland Road,” Pelletier said. “Many of the house lots on Cleveland Road are on marginal lots for sewer systems.

“Everything will be going to the town’s sewer plant,” he said. “When those 90 new users are added to the system, the plant will be operating at 75 percent capacity.”

The town’s engineering firm, Woodard and Curran, will begin design and engineering work quickly, Pelletier said.

Pelletier would like to go to bid in late fall or early winter to get an early start in spring 2007. Still, he thinks it may take more than one construction season to do the entire project.

Pelletier said that the funds approved Monday were applied for under money reserved for Empowerment Zone Communities.

“Our designation as an EZ Community plays a big part in our ability to obtain these funds and especially at the percentage breakdown between grants and loan dollars,” Pelletier said.

The grant covers 75 percent of the cost, while the loan is 25 percent of the cost.