West Main Utility Extension
This is the project home page for the West Main Utility Extension - first proposed in 2014 to extend the municipal water and sewer lines from the village, westward through the Gateway to the Riverview Commons mobile home park.
Documents related to the Gateway Expansion as of 9-13-21
- Special Meeting of the Water and Sewer Commission Agenda 9-13-21
- 1a PER – Richmond West Main Sewer Extension (Final Draft)
- 3a1 Notes on Costs and Rates for Gateway Expansion Project
- 3a1i Phase I Bond Payback and Rate Estimates
- 3a1ii Phase I and II Bond Payback and Rate Estimates
- 3a1iii Phase I, II and III Bond Payback and Rate Estimates
- 3a2 Water VS. Wastewater Meter Costs
- 3a3 Estimated Private Costs To Connect to Public System
- 3a4 Guideline for Estimating Individual Costs
- Draft Total Expansion Area
- Current W&S Boundary (1)
WEST MAIN EXPANSION AREA CUSTOMERS MEETING: JANUARY 29, 2018 7:00 PM, Town Center Meeting Room
The Water Commission will discuss with the residents and property owners of the Gateway the results of the Design/Build RFP and what next steps would be to move forward.
Update 1-5-2018
There are two responses to the Design-Build RFP:
GW Tatro/Aldrich & Elliott - review pending
Engineers Construction Inc. (ECI) - review pending
Update 12-13-2017
The Richmond Water Commission has announced that the due date for proposals has changed to January 5, 2018. Pre-Bidders will be notified by letter.
West Main Prebid Notes (updated 12-13-2017)
The two prebid meetings with site visits are completed. The notes from each are here:
Design/Build Solicitation 11-7-2017
The Board of Water Commissioners has agreed to issue a solicitation for a Design-Build project to complete Phases I and II of the West Main expansion. The solicitation document is found below, and related documents can be found at the bottom of this page. Questions can be directed to Geoffrey Urbanik, Town Manager, at (802) 434-5170 or email townmgr@gmavt.net
Quick Update 1-5-2017
The Water Commissioners have been hard at work finalizing their application to USDA for federally subsidized funding for the West Main Utility Extension. In late December, the Commissioners agreed to apply for a 100% loan option from USDA at 1.875% interest – an historically low rate that was set to increase in January 2017. The other option available was to apply for a grant/loan combination which we were told was highly competitive. Due to the later timing, the loan part of the grant/loan would be at a higher interest rate. We calculated that we’d need at least 30% in grants to offset the higher interest rates, and the likelihood of a grant award of 30% or greater was not good. This does not preclude the Commissioners from applying for a partial grant, or taking advantage of more favorable programs if they come along in the next few years. As of today, the 1.875% interest loan was the best offer we are eligible for – and we’ve been granted conditional approval with USDA funding now obligated to the project in the amount of $2.5 million – the same amount as approved in a bond vote for the project in March of 2015.
On this page we’ve placed an initial interlocal agreement template to explain our intentions on providing water and sewer service to Riverview Commons mobile home park; the foundational Preliminary Engineering Report and Environmental Assessment; our conditional award letters from USDA, as well as a list of Frequently Asked Questions from 2015.
What remains to be done: Negotiate a connection agreement, including rate structure, with the mobile home park owner; develop a communication plan with property owners in the Gateway and industrial areas near the mobile home park; obtain right-of-way permission and construction easements along the proposed path; meet all conditions set forth in the USDA approval letters; then final design, bid and construction. While there is yet no timeline for completion, we expect this will take some time – we can’t rush the project.
We’re also going to have a meeting with the Planning Commission and Water Commission members to discuss how this utility extension fits into the Town Plan – stay tuned for the meeting announcement.
The loan cannot be accepted until we have met a number of conditions, which are shown in the conditional approval letters from USDA. We are not obligated to accept the loan, and have up to five years to meet all conditions, accept the loan, and complete the project. It is possible that the extension will not proceed, or that it will not proceed all the way to the mobile home park. Residents who are interested are also invited to attend Water and Sewer Commission meetings, which occur the first and third Monday of each month at the Town Center, or to watch video coverage of the meetings at Mount Mansfield Community Television’s streaming video at MMCTV Public Meeting Video Archive.