An article
appearing in the Key West Citizen suggests that the
sewage installation on Stock Island is not completed.
The article by Laurie
Karnatz entitled "Opinions differ on whether Stock
Island system is done" reports that
"URS,
an international consulting firm hired by the
county to review the Stock Island sewer system,
in November told commissioners it would cost a
minimum of $2.38 million to finish providing the
necessary infrastructure for property owners to
hook up to the system. "
"In order to
connect all the remaining properties, additional
infrastructure must be installed," David
Burgstiner of URS told the board at a special
meeting on Nov. 29. "Vacuum mains, valve pits,
new sewer lateral [lines] ... they may
be in the county right-of-way or they may be in
private properties. Any way you cut it, you have
to do a little more work to get everybody
connected."
The Grand Jury report
of April 2005 seems to differ with Monroe County
Commissioner Murray Nelson opinion the Stock island
project ( KW Resort Utilities' expansion of its south
Stock Island sewer project) is "the best project we
ever had."
The article reports
that property owners are upset. David Burgstiner of
URS stated that in order to finish the expansion the
County has two options.
Option one - extend
vacuum lines onto private property and have individual
property owners pay an estimate $2.1 million with the
County or KW Resort Utilities paying
$275,000.
Option two -
individual owners pay around $1.8 million with the
County or KW Resort Utilities paying about
$775,000.
Additionally property
owners must pay a connection fees &emdash; $2,700 per
unit, plus the cost of abandoning present sewage
system. Estimates on abandoning single residence
systems range from several hundred dollars to many
thousands of dollars for community package systems.
The article also
reports that KW Resort Utilities still uses a sewage
plant that has not yet upgraded to advanced wastewater
treatment.
