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August 23, 2001 By Janelle Holden Delays in building a new Cortez sewer plant will cost the Cortez Sanitation District an extra quarter of a million dollars, the district’s engineer estimated on Tuesday. The district is waiting to begin the $10 million project until its condemnation of 4.67 acres of Aileen Maxwell’s property south of Cortez is completed. The district wants to build the new sewer plant on Maxwell’s property. Richard Arber, the president of Richard P. Arber Associates — the district’s engineer, told the Cortez Sanitation District on Tuesday night that an expected 3 to 3.5 percent jump in construction prices over the next year could significantly impact the project. "At the inflation rate, waiting is not cheap," said Arber. If the acquisition of Maxwell’s land had gone as planned, district officials said construction of the plant could have gone to bid as early as this fall. Now it’s not likely to start until next year, according to Bill Smith, the district’s manager. Maxwell’s property lies along south Broadway near McElmo Creek and the Glade Trailer Park. She owns approximately 120 acres south of Cortez that surrounds the district’s office and southwestern plant. The district began negotiating with Maxwell in January, but moved to condemn the property when the 85-year old Maxwell did not respond to their offer of $63,000. Maxwell said she did make a counter-offer through her lawyer, but the district said it never received it. Because her property contains numerous Ancestral Puebloan ruins and is close to the highway, she would like to construct a small archaeological museum on the tract of land the sanitation district wants to use for the sewer plant. Maxwell is upset because the plant would be constructed 10 feet from a ruin that Maxwell wants to include with the museum. "Ten feet isn’t enough to get around it," said Maxwell. Although condemnation proceedings have already begun, the board agreed to continue negotiating with Maxwell, and voted on Tuesday after an executive session to reduce the size of the property it wants by 40 feet to the east, giving her a 100 foot access to her property, while retaining the same financial terms as the original offer. "After conversations with our engineers, we decided that we couldn’t reduce it as much as she wanted, because that would compromise the project, but they did offer to reduce it somewhat and still pay the same price for it," explained Smith. The board gave Maxwell 10 days to respond to the offer before continuing condemnation proceedings. "The condemnation is proceeding and we’re not going to stop that, it’s going to proceed, it has to proceed, and if she accepts the offer, then, of course, the condemnation will stop," explained Smith. On Wednesday, Maxwell said she needed to speak with her lawyer before she responds, but she wants enough space to build a museum and include the excavated ruin. "I don’t know whether that (the offer) is going to be enough space or not," she said. Smith said that once construction begins, the plant will be built in two phases. The first phase of the sewer plant will be able to process 1.6 million gallons of sewage, and Phase Two will allow for 2.1 million gallons. "It certainly will allow for the growth of the city that’s projected in the next 20 years," said Smith. But Maxwell is afraid the sanitation district will want more of her property in the future. "What I’m afraid of is once they get it then they’re going to want to keep taking more and more and more," said Maxwell, who explained that the district originally asked her for 14 acres. "They say, oh that will last for 20 years, well then why did they ask for 14 acres if this 5 is going to take care of it for 20 years?" The district’s engineer plans to proceed with designing the plant based on the proposed property lines. "The pre-design needs no entry to her property," said Arber, who plans to work on the project but said his firm may have to "re-evaluate" building the project if delays continue. The property in question abuts the city limits, and Arber asked the district to decide which planning authority, county or city, would be contacted to approve the project. The board made no decision. Arber passed out preliminary drawings of the property, but the drawings were not made available to the Journal at this time. Also during Tuesday’s meeting the board considered how to handle landowners who purchased taps but failed to develop the parcel of land. The current bylaws state that if significant construction is not underway within a year and completed in 18 months the district will return 80 percent of the tap fee, keeping 20 percent as a "plant investment fee." Developer Don Etnier approached the board about a tap he had purchased for an empty lot, but because the homeowner’s financing fell through, construction was stalled, and the district returned $1,600 of his $2000 tap fee. The board agreed by a 3-2 vote that if Etnier brought in a certificate of occupancy within the 18 months allowed for development and didn’t cash the district’s refund check, then his original plant investment fee would be applied to the tap. Otherwise the board would keep the money. Smith said 12 to 15 tap fees have been refunded, minus the plant investment fee, in the past 18 months. He said at the beginning of 2000, when there was a perception in Cortez that taps might become scarce before a new sewer plant was built, developers would purchase sewer taps with the intention of hoarding them. "By and large it’s just good policy not to have a bunch of sold taps out there not connected to the building where waste comes out of," explained Smith at the meeting. "I don’t necessarily agree with you, Bill, that to have some sewer taps out there is a detriment," said board member Bob Diederich, who thought the matter was "cloudy." The board also agreed to review the bylaws at some point. |
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez Journal.
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