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Lafayette
City Council
suspends sewer
plan
Cheboygan Tribune
- 8/14
CHEBOYGAN --
After hearing several protests from homeowners, the Cheboygan City
Council has decided to indefinitely table a proposal to install
sanitary sewers along Lafayette Avenue from Abbott Street to
Lincoln Avenue.
"There is
going to be no action taken on it," said Councilman and Mayor
Pro Tem Robert Spinella, who conducted a special meeting on the
matter Monday night.
The sewer
proposal was prompted because of the planned resurfacing of
Lafayette later this year, and the projected eventual change in
the area's land-use designation to commercial and multi-family,
said City Manager Scott McNeil.
The sewer would
have been built along Lafayette's right of way, but crossovers
would have had to be constructed under the street, he added.
"We have to
look at the future now -- tomorrow will be too late,"
Spinella said.
Property owners
attending the meeting said they were opposed to the sewer
installation because of the high cost, which would have been split
among only 15 homeowners.
Carl Laviolette,
whose home on U.S. 23 is already tied into the city sewer, said,
"I'm all for things that are good for the city, but if this
is something that is going to benefit the (entire) city, should 15
people carry the whole load?"
According to data
provided by McNeil, the proposed Lafayette sewer installation
would have cost $350,747. With a contribution of $25,600 by the
city, homeowners would have had to pay the $325,147 balance. For
someone with a 300-linear-foot parcel, the cost would have been
$1,869.10 a year for 20 years.
If the city had
contributed 25 percent of the estimated cost, the balance would
have totaled $263,047. Even so, a homeowner with 300 linear feet
of property would have had to pay $1,538.50 a year for 20 years.
Gerald Brown of
530 Lafayette told the Council: "I'm 100 percent for the
sewer, but 100 percent opposed to the way it (would have been)
funded."
Mike Gildner, who
lives at 604 Lincoln, agreed. "I'm not against the commercial
development -- I think we are headed that way," he said.
But, he added,
"I think we can outlive another repaving job before we get
there."
Spinella said,
"From what we are hearing, quite possibly alternative funding
will have to be found" if another Lafayette sewer extension
proposal comes up at a future date.
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