9/30/1986 - Laserfiche WebLink

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L= TO: BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIO S DATE: September 17, 1986 THRU: Terrance G. Pinto Director of Utility Services FROM: Ronald R. BrooksiG, f Environmental Engineering Specialist SUBJECT: PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER A RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR WATER IMPROVEMENTS IN RIVER SHORES ESTATES SUBDIVISION BACKGROUND AND CONDITIONS When the South County Reverse Osmosis Water Plant was proposed for construction, property owners within the River Shores Estates Subdivision petitioned to be included in the service area of the initial construction phase of the proposed County water system. Unfortunately, provision of water service to the subdivision was apparently not cost effective at the time and water service was not provided. With the development of Grove Isle, a water main was extended from Oslo Road south along U.S. 1, thereby providing water service availability to River Shores Estates. On June 9, 1986, a petition for water service, with the signatures of approximately 43% of the property owners in River Shores Estates, was again submitted. The River Shores Estates Subdivision is located adjacent to the Indian River and the eastern' half of the subdivision was historically an environmentally sensitive area that was dredged and filled to provide a typical finger canal residential community. Within the subdivision,..the fresh water aquifer is extremely shallow and is subject to salt water intrusion, thereby providing very limited drinking water resources that are highly susceptible to contamination. Some of the property owners, having been unable to obtain usable water from the shallow fresh water aquifer, have elected to construct very expensive floridan °aquifer wells. -However, water from the flor_idan aquifer still requires very expensive treatment to provide safe drinking water. The Indian River County Public Health Unit has recommended (Exhibit I) that a public water system be constructed within the subdivision due to the prevalence of groundwater contamination in the very limited groundwater resources. As indicated in their memorandum, conditions for a serious health problem presently exist and they will only worsen with further development of the subdivision. The Division of Utility Services likewise recognizes a need for a safe and dependable water supply within the subdivision. It appears inevitable that a water system will have to be provided and, with the rising construction costs, now is the time to provide the service with the least expense to the property owners. - Under Ordinance 81-27, the Board of County Commissioners is authorized to establish services and improvements, to include water systems. The Commission may do so at its discretion without petition. The Board is also authorized to provide for the payment of the improvements by levying and collecting special assessments upon properties deemed to benefit by such improvement. A cost estimate and proposal for engineering services (Exhibit II) for provision of water improvements to Indian River Shores Estates and certain properties adjacent thereto has been prepared by the engineering firm, Masteller and Moler Associates, Inc. The Division of Utility Services has also prepared a Preliminary Assessment Roll (Exhibit III) and determined a total estimated cost of $162,868.76 to the property owners for the water improvements. 69 BOOK S E P 30 198