Sugarloaf questions need for central wastewater

Members of the Sugarloaf Shores Property Owners Association learned Tuesday night that any chance they have for a central wastewater collection system is as far down the line as is the Big Pine service area.

But that doesn’t seem to concern the Sugarloaf folks, many of whom are convinced the county can skip them anyway.

“There is still some debate whether a central wastewater system is necessary for Lower Sugarloaf,” said Gordon West, former president of the association and local activist.

“We have monitored our near shore water quality for years, and there has been no appreciable decline.”

West, and others in the Lower Sugarloaf area, believes that the residents can do as much good simply by upgrading their existing on-site wastewater systems to 2010 standards as can be accomplished with a central plant, and for considerably less money.

When the county did its original wastewater master plan, Lower Sugarloaf was in a treatment district by itself. It has since been lumped into the expanded Cudjoe Regional System, which spans from Lower Sugarloaf to Big Pine.

The Sugarloaf Shores area has the same funding issues — none currently available — as does the Big Pine area, which right now includes Ramrod, Little Torch and Big Pine.

And county officials were unable to put a better handle on what might happen with wastewater in the near future Tuesday night.

County Wastewater Engineer Liz Wood said that Monroe County is still planning on assessing $4,500 as a hook up fee for the Sugarloaf area, leaving the property owner with the cost to run laterals to the street from the their homes.

That cost could be between $3,000 and $6,000 depending on the intricacy of the project and the length needed.

She also said that sewer officials would complete the planning design phase for the original core areas of the expanded Cudjoe system, Upper Sugarloaf through Summerland Key, but there are no plans as yet for completing that phase for the outlying areas.

According to County Administrator Roman Gastesi, the current estimate for the county to sewer the Cudjoe regional system is about $20,000 per EDU, or typical single family house.

The county, through its wastewater developer, Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority, will use the $4,500 in hook up fees, or about $45 million, to start the project, “But we have no idea as yet where we get the rest.”

County officials are placing a lot of hope in a bill that is supposed to get filed with the state Legislature in a few weeks when it goes into session. That bill commits the state to $200 million in bond funds, “as its debt service allows” and as it can, with no guarantees. The bill also extends the county’s mandated wastewater deadline to 2015.

County officials are also hopeful that they can get support from the state level for an additional one cent sales tax that Gastesi says could raise $24 million per year. That tax, is the county gets authority from the state to levy it, would have to be approved by a majority of the voters in Monroe County to become effective.

“The one-cent sales tax is probably the fairest way to raise the money because it makes our tourists help pay the bill,” he said.

Any decisions on what happens with wastewater plans in the Lower Sugarloaf area are several months, to years in the future, Gastesi admits.

In the meantime, says Wood, any wastewater system that has to be installed in the areas not yet served by central wastewater as of July 1 of this year, will have to meet the state’s 2010 standards.

Should a current system require replacement, it will have to be upgraded to best available technology standards, she said.

And then, says Gastesi, if the county comes through the area with a sewer pipe, property owners will have to abandon that relatively new system and hook into the pipe in the street.

The legislation initially proposed for the $200 million in bonding from the state included a clause that allowed people who already were 2010 compliant, or were forced to become 2010 compliant before FKAA runs a pipe in the street to stay off the line until 2030.

Sewer officials fought to have that clause removed, and it was.

“As of right now, the county still requires you to hook up within 30 days of availability of a pipe,” said Gastesi.

Association members also quizzed county fire officials about future plans for their fire station.

The building itself is owned by the Sugarloaf Volunteer Fire Corporation and the county can’t spend public money on the facility because it’s privately owned.

Sugarloaf residents have been concerned about the building’s condition for several years. The volunteers can’t raise enough money to repair the building on their own.

“Unfortunately, we can’t spend money to fix the building,” said Keb Bentley, battalion chief for Monroe County Fire Rescue.

That doesn’t mean Sugarloaf’s fire and rescue picture is completely bleak.

“The long-range plan is to have four career firefighters/paramedics in every station in unincorporated Monroe County,” said Bentley. “And we want station coverage every four five miles.”

The latter goal is probably impossible, he said, but at least the overlap areas can be increased.

Right now, Cudjoe Key has paid personnel on duty all the time. Sugarloaf is manned completely by volunteers.

“The two are sister stations,” said Bently. “When one goes out, they both go out as back up to the other.”

The county this year agreed to fund a paid rescue force for Layton which receives its fire/rescue services from the county.

Sugarloaf recently received a new truck and a new tanker, and is the only station with a mini-ambulance unit for use in close quarters.

“We station the mini unit on Sugarloaf mostly because of calls on Loop Road. We can’t get anything else in there,” said Bentley.

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