PSA Officials Need Easements for Yuma Sewer Project
A sign outside McGee's Grocery says that Yuma residents that own property in the area receiving sewer need to respond quickly to a plea for signed easements. According to the poster, the Scott County Public Service Authority needs assistance to: "prevent losing Yuma Elementary School, improve water quality, prevent disease and encourage housing and economic development."
The sign posted on the outside entrance of McGee's Grocery in Yuma plainly says it all.
"Attention Yuma Residents: Phase I Sewer Collection System - Easements are needed to move the project forward."
Local officials are hoping a long-anticipated sewer project in Yuma can begin soon but they are anxiously awaiting signed easements from homeowners along Yuma Road.
Scott County Public Service Authority Director Dan Danko reported that only a few of the nearly 100 easements have been granted for the first phase of the Yuma Sewer Project - a project that has been in the works since the 1990s.
The late Robert Wininger never failed to address the county's PSA board to ask about the availability of sewer coming to Yuma Elementary School. In fact, Wininger worked hard to promote the project and to keep it alive even others just weren't interested in talking about it.
Last Thursday, PSA officials held a community meeting hoping to secure most of the easements by those already committed to the project. Less than a handful showed up and Danko wants to get the message out that if Yuma residents want sewer in their community and at their school, they must sign easements allowing lines to be placed on their property.
"Easements are the most critical part of getting to construction," Danko explained. "Without right-of-way, we can't construct. People who want the project to succeed can make it easy or hard based on their willingness to address easements."
The nearly $3.1 million project is broken down into three phases. Phase 1A, which goes from the current ending of sewer just outside Weber City on the Old Yuma Road to Yuma Elementary School, is the most expensive portion of the project.
But it is a crucial part that has to be done before the other two components can be started. Phase 1B is a loop that starts at Yuma Tire and follows the roadway where it intersects with Yuma Road. Phase 2, the easiest to construct portion of the project, travels from the school to near the top of the hill on Yuma Road.
Danko noted the project has been funded, environmental and historical roadblocks have been cleared and he is waiting for signed easements to begin construction on Phase 1 of the plan. The majority of the funding is grant-based with a small loan of $479,500, based on 2.45 interest over 40 years, coming from USDA Rural Development.
"This project is for the benefit of the community and the school," he added. "I don't think they will get the deal they've got on the table for this project ever again."
Rural Development is providing $1.4 million in grant funds for the plan along with grant funds from the General Assembly of $270,000, a Southern Rivers grant of $534,000 and other small sources to complete the funding picture of $3.092 million.
Danko remarked that he originally worked on the Yuma Sewer Project 16 years ago when he completed the preliminary engineering report in 1993. He returned to the project in 2000 and has spent the past two years working on finalizing permits with the railroad, Army Corps of Engineers and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and Historic Resources.
"We are at the point where we either build it or move on," Danko explained. "I can never get them a better deal than what we have now."
Following Thursday's meeting in Yuma, PSA officials prepared a sign which was placed at Friday's Yuma Ruritan-sponsored dinner. After that event, Edsel Bellamy of Yuma took the sign to McGee's Store to make sure local residents knew they needed to act quickly.
Danko noted that residents can pick up a copy of the easement agreement at the PSA Office in Weber City. The agreement must be signed, dated and notarized.
Under the terms of the agreement between property owners and the Scott County Public Service Authority, the property owner gives the PSA a temporary construction easement and permanent easement to erect, construct, install and lay utility pipelines for the sum of $1. Easement documents also give PSA employees authority to inspect, repair, maintain, replace and remove pipelines. They also promise to restore the land disturbed to as good as possible before construction and to maintain the easement in good repair.
The temporary easement would be 40 feet in width and the permanent easement would measure 20 feet wide. The sewer line and other needed utility lines could deviate from the working drawings during construction and will be located by a land surveyor after construction.
Bellamy is doing his part to keep the sewer project flowing. He is talking to his neighbors and making sure they have the documents needed to ensure construction will begin in spring 2010.