Route 7 and town sewer see investment in '07

By NATHAN LAMB | Milton Independent Staff Writer
mireporter@mac.com

Former Selectboard Chairman Ken Nolan gets a tour of Milton’s wastewater treatment plant at its open house in August by Brad Aldrich, P.E., vice president of Forcier, Aldrich & Associates, the company supervised the construction of the plant.

Motorists may remember 2007 as a year of major delays on Route 7, but it was also a time of significant infrastructure improvements along that busy corridor.

Most traffic delays were due to re-paving of Route 7 in Milton, which was the centerpiece of the state’s $1,939,440 improvement program on the highway this fall and summer.

While motorists sat in long lines waiting on a “go” from the flagmen, workers from Pike Industries repaired curbs, improved drainage, and replaced guardrails. After enduring that routine from August through November, drivers were rewarded with smooth new blacktop and freshly painted traffic lines.

Some delays were also caused in late summer and fall by roadside digging crews working to connect the town’s wastewater treatment system with Catamount Industrial Park.

The three-mile, $4 million expansion was termed part of the town’s job creation efforts by town manager Sandy Miller in August.

Sewer and wastewater treatment are vital concerns for industrial operations considering Catamount as a location for investment, he explained. Granted that, Miller said the ownership group behind Catamount, the Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation, held off marketing lots in the park until the sewer was available.

Besides creating local jobs, new industrial tenants would also help balance the town’s Grand List, which is currently heavily weighted toward residential uses, continued Miller. That balance is desirable because industry adds valuation to the tax base while carrying lesser demand on the services and schools than residential development.

The integration of Catamount Park with town center was only one—albeit major—component of the multi-phased, $17.6 million expansion of the town sewer system.

The $8 million expansion of the town’s wastewater treatment plant was another piece of that plan completed in 2007. The plant was previously running near its 250,000 gallon per day capacity, but the expansion quadrupled that figure, making connections with Catamount and other areas possible, said Miller at the time.

Former Selectboard member Ken Nolan described that plan as “a long time coming” in August and the record supports that position: bonding authority for the project was approved by Milton voters in 1998, but Miller said expansion of the collection system along Route 7 was delayed for six years by legal maneuvering with the environmental advocacy group known as the Conservation Law Foundation.

The foundation brought concerns of “sprawl” development to the table, and the issue was resolved by the town agreeing that there would be no sewer connections along Route 7 between the Milton Diner and Catamount Park. The town was also required to complete a land use study along the Route 7 corridor before pursuing further expansion of the collection system.

That deal was the best the town was able to reach, said Miller in August.

“The good news is it’s finally getting done and it’s going to create the potential for us to develop in ways the town has identified as being highly desirable,” he said.

However, the town’s utilization of that expanded capacity may be complicated by Act 43, a law passed in 2006 that could limit phosphorous output in the Lake Champlain basin to levels posted that year.

While the particulars of how Act 43 will be enforced were still being fleshed-out by the State Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) as of December, town officials are advocating that the focus fall less on treatment plants—which produce only 10 percent of the phosphorus—and instead focus on educating the public on how they can reduce phosphorous output. The alternative, said town engineer Andrew Legg in December, are multi-million dollar upgrades to the treatment plant. While the state is currently required by law to foot that expense, that money could be better spent elsewhere, he explained.

Speaking near the end of December, Legg said it appears ANR will not recommend additional treatment be required for treatment plants--- but added the legislature could still be interested in that option. He said town officials would stay posted as that process unfolds.

“It’s definitely going to be something we’re going to have to keep an eye on the legislature this year,” he said.