PHOTO: Earlier today, the Fort Payne City Council held a Special Called Meeting to authorized the city to apply for a grant that would begin a new sewer project. The project will hopefully resolve the situation with the failing Terrapin Hills Sewer system. (Tyler Pruett | Southern Torch)
By Tyler Pruett, Managing Editor
FORT PAYNE, Ala. — The Fort Payne City Council held a special called meeting at noon today to pass Resolution No. 2017-44, authorizing the application for grant funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to assist in funding with upcoming sewer projects that will resolve the Terrapin Hills sewer issue.
Kelley Taft of Kelley Group Engineering, which is writing the ARC grant for Fort Payne, visited city hall to update the council today.
Taft said that the grant would be 70/30 financing, and the overall project would cost $300,000. This means that the ARC would be contributing 70 percent ($210,000) and 30 percent ($90,000) would be "matched" by the city. The grant must be applied for by November 30, and the resolution approved today authorized the city to apply for the grant.
The grant will also include an "add on" that would allow for an approximately 11 mile, "green space." The green space will be a biking and walking trail that would follow Big Wills Creek. The space will also allow for places to put in and take out kayaks once the creek is cleaned. The route will run from the old Terrapin Hills lagoon to the intersection of Big Wills Creek and 48th Street.
Taft also said the city would be, "partnering with ALDOT and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Master Planning and Preliminary Design," for the project.
The first phase of the sewer project will include the failing Terrapin Hills System, and will hopefully resolve the situation with the Alabama Department of Environmental Affairs (ADEM), who are threatening to shutdown the system; a move which would leave houses in the area without sewer service.
The second phase of the project will be done at a later date, and would extend city sewer services down 67th Street to Vulcraft.
According to sources with the city, ADEM will have a court date with the city soon, and hopefully the government agency will allow the city to "takeover" the failing system until the replacement system can be built.
Taft also said that the funding awards will be announced in early 2018, and construction could get started immediately, if the grant is awarded.
