SANITARY SEWER FOR PARKWOOD
WITH A HOLD ON CITY WATER AND STREETS
June 27th
Victoria councilmembers continued to take testimony on June 27th from several Parkwood residents about sewer, water, and road improvements proposed for their neighborhood.  Parkwood resi-dents are located on Hyacinth (off 78th Street) and on 80th Street (off Bavaria Road).
When all was said and done, council approved a resolution accepting bids and awarding a contract only for the sanitary sewer project.  Construction should be underway by August 1st.  No decision was made at this meeting about water and streets, other than to not award bids for them at this time.
Proposed assessments for each of the homeowners were large.  Sewer assess-ment plus connection charge was estimat-ed to be $13,600.  Water assessment plus connection charge was at $10,210.  Street assessment for those residents on Hya-cinth was $16,600. 
Sewer is the utility deemed most necessary by most of the neighborhood residents, but alternate bids were taken for water and street improvements to see if price would be acceptable.
Stated Mayor Mary Meuwissen, "Council wants to know what you want to do."  Several Parkwood residents stepped forward on June 27th to do just that.  Con-sensus favored doing the sewer project because of failing septic systems, but waiting with the installation of municipal water, and probably not do the streets.
But resident Mike Schulenburg said, "Nothing is going to get any cheaper.  People moving out here want sewer, water, and blacktop streets.  City water does give us some assurance of quality."
Said resident Peg Overturf, "I'm in favor of sewer and water and to put the road in later if possible."
Lawrence Williams, resident on 78th Street, asked about the nearby creek.  "All that water that's being run into that creek, I'm afraid my house is going to wash away."  Mayor Mary Meuwissen said this was a perfect time for the city to look at that issue. 
After almost two hours of public hearing, with most neighbors saying they only wanted sewer, council voted to "actively pursue" better competitive bids on the streets and to possibly tie such a project in with other street projects being proposed in Victoria, in order to get best prices.
Stated Mayor Mary, "If a good and successful bid comes in on the street, water would have to also go in.  You'd have to simultaneously put out a bid to do water."  The understanding is that you wouldn't rip up good streets to install municipal water; you'd install waterlines prior to constructing a good street.
Meanwhile, city staff was instructed to hand deliver to every Parkwood resi-dent a personal notification of the possi-bility of also installing municipal water in their neighborhood.  She pointed out that the reason for the unusual personal notifi-cation in the neighborhood was the very late notice those residents had received of the June 27th hearing.  She and other councilmembers wanted a better idea of what the majority of Parkwood residents preferred regarding municipal water.

At a special council meeting on Mon-day, July 8th, City Engineer Jack Griffin reported that notices had been hand deliv-ered to each of the affected residents, and that 25 out of 28 responses were received regarding the municipal water question.  Nine were in favor and 16 were against.
A motion was made and passed to not install municipal water at this time.
Jack reported that 12 out of 12 res-ponses were received on the Hyacinth Street improvement.  Three were in favor and nine against.  A motion was made and passed to not do the street at this time but to continue to pursue a better price in con-junction with other street projects.
Stated the mayor, "Residents can petition for it at any time.  We would then have a re-evaluation.  It was pointed out that sewer lines will go in at about 22 feet in back of the homes, while municipal water lines would be installed in the front yards if ever approved.  The two utilities will always be two separate projects, even if installed during the same timeframe.

On July 11th Marv Hartman ad-dressed the situation at Parkwood and the lack of municipal water.  "We might not see city water out there for the next 10 to 15 years.  It could have gone better.  I don't know what the answer is.  That neighborhood is 35 years old.  I hate to see this.  It's a half-done job."
Marvin has three vacant lots in Park-wood.  He was the original developer over 30 years ago when municipal water was not available to any Victoria residents.
Stated Mayor Mary, "It kills me that we're losing that low bid to do water.  It was a fantastic price.  It was a low price ... It came down to money ... We'll never be able to show that $12,000 more for water will improve their property when they've already got water."
Stated Engineer Jack Griffin, "We tried to educate the public the best we could and make it affordable.  There were still 16 people who said they didn't want it."
Said Richard, "It appeared to me a fine opportunity also."
Stated Jerry Bohn, "It's a philosophi-cal question.  Do we let the people decide or do we want to make it a goal to have municipal water for all the homes?"
Gordon Simanton suggested looking at the charges for older homes versus newer homes and setting up cost struc-tures.  "Right now there is not incentive for them to hook up," he said.

Click here to continue.