Commission hears plans for Ridgewood subdivision sewer project
Apr. 20—The Shady Spring Public Service District is in the beginning stages of expanding its sewer system to include roughly 40 new customers in the Ridgewood subdivision.
Jerry Smith, the general manager of Shady Spring PSD, as well as representatives with L.A. Gates, a Beckley engineering firm, attended a Raleigh County Commission meeting Tuesday to present their sewer extension plan to commissioners.
"All we're doing today is just presenting the study we did and see if the county commission wants us to move on with the preliminary (engineering) and the design and then we can go ahead and move on with the funding part," Smith said.
Lance Morgan, a project engineer with L.A. Gates, said the project is estimated to cost about $1.5 million.
"What we're presenting for Shady Spring PSD is we're looking at another phase of the Cool Ridge/Flat Top sewer system," Morgan said. "And this phase would extend it pretty much from the Cool Ridge Post Office to Mount View Road and incorporate the Ridgewood subdivision ...
"It's just the next logical phase, running sewer from Ghent toward Shady."
Morgan said just over a mile of new sewer lines would be installed as part of the project once funding is secured.
He added that they are still in the initial phases of planning for this project
Now that plans have been presented to the commission, Myron Amick, a project engineer with L.A. Gates, said the next step they'll take is completing the preliminary engineering report, which is then reviewed by the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council.
Amick said the council will need to sign off on the project before they can take any additional steps.
"The (Raleigh) Commission will help us with the planning and funds, and then once we have the project planned, then we'll submit that through the (West Virginia) Infrastructure Council and apply for funding through the Army Corps of Engineers or state revolving funds," Amick said.
With a project like this, Amick said it typically take two to three years to complete.
He added that acquiring funding often takes up the bulk of that time.
Smith said the majority of the homeowners in the area are on board with the project and have been eagerly awaiting on its progress for some time.
Morgan said people living in the area are on septic tanks which are known to have a number of issues.
"When it rains and you wash a couple loads of laundry, then you start, you know, you're typically overloading your system so that's what's driving the project," he said.
Email: jmoore@register-herald.com
