News

By Larry Barszewski

Manalapan commissioners say the town might be better off with sewers instead of septic tanks, but they’re not sure the benefit of building a sewer system is great enough to justify the cost and aggravation to residents.
Commissioners are concerned the state could mandate a switch to sewers because septic tanks on the barrier island pose an environmental risk, but they don’t know if such a decision would come relatively soon or be decades away.
They would like to have a discussion with town residents about the idea, but they say they need to have more facts and figures first. That means spending more money for a partial design without knowing if a new system will actually be built.
One thing is clear: Earlier thoughts that a sewer project could be underway by spring no longer seem practical.
“Realistically, we’re talking about next year this time making a decision about this,” Mayor Keith Waters said at an Oct. 5 commission workshop held online via Zoom. “The absolute piece that we know of — is a certainty — is we have to have a design before we can move forward, before we can get funding, and before we can have hard answers on anything that we need.”
The commission’s regular October meeting was later canceled, putting off a decision until at least its November meeting, which will be held at 10 a.m. Nov. 10 so as not to disrupt any Thanksgiving holiday plans.
“The fork in the road right now is go or no go,” Waters said about the design for the project. In August, consultant Mock Roos & Associates estimated the overall project cost at $10.3 million.
“I think it’s going to be much more than that, significantly more than that,” Waters said.
At their Nov. 10 meeting, commissioners will consider an $84,520 proposal from Mock Roos for 30% design work on a low pressure sewer system for the town. The design work should produce a more accurate cost for the project. It is also needed before the town can apply for grants that have the potential to reduce the project’s cost to town residents.
In an Oct. 21 email to The Coastal Star, Town Clerk Erika Petersen said no meeting with residents to get their input has been scheduled yet.
“We do not anticipate that would even take place before there is a prelim design or proposal for the work or some other information to share with them,” Petersen wrote.
Commissioners aren’t sure how receptive residents will be to move off of their private septic systems and onto a town sewer system once they know how much it will cost, how disruptive construction will be, how long it will take to complete and what work will have to be done on each residential property.
A low pressure sewer system involves installing a macerating pump on each property. The pump would grind a home’s sewage and push it into a small-diameter sewer pipe that carries it out of town to a treatment plant. Mock Roos says the design work would include two “typical” site plans for installing a pump and pipes on private property.
At the October workshop, Vice Mayor Stewart Satter was most outspoken in his concerns about the plans.
“Do we understand clearly why we’re doing this?” Satter asked. “This is an enormous project — forget about the monetary cost — just in terms of disruption to the town.”
Town elections: The candidate qualifying period for the March 14 commission elections ends at noon Nov. 15. The elections are for Seats 1, 3, 5 and the mayor’s Seat 7. Waters and Commissioner Hank Siemon are term-limited and cannot seek re-election. The other seats are held by Commissioner John Deese and Vice Mayor Satter.