news
City Council members affirmed their support of the project during a Tuesday work session, although they won’t budget the funds until the 2011 fiscal year. The fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
The project will provide each house in Haven Acres its own individual connection to the main sewer lines running under the streets.
Currently, 127 homes inside the south Tupelo subdivision share a connector line with one or more neighbors. Raw sewage can clog easily at the connection site, causing it to flow back into the homes, said Brett Brooks, an engineer with Cook Coggin consulting with the city.
Tupelo inherited the problem when it annexed Haven Acres in 1989. The subdivision, which today has more than 300 homes, was developed in the early 1970s in an incorporated area with no infrastructure codes or requirements.
Since annexation, the city has provided some homes individual connections but charged residents $1,500 for the service. Not all households can afford the fee, leaving many to suffer the hassle and odor of raw sewage in their homes.
City leaders decided this week to correct the problem for all residents. They also hope to receive a Mississippi Development Authority grant that would pay half the estimated $435,000 cost.
“We will commit to the citizens that we’ll take care of that problem” with or without the grant, said council President Fred Pitts.
Because funds won’t become available until October at the earliest, the project likely won’t start until autumn or later. The city will seek bids from private contractors to do the work, and it will take about four or five months to complete, Brooks said.
It’ll be the second time in a half decade for Haven Acres to benefit from a major city project. In 2006, the city spent some $600,000 to improve storm-water drainage in the neighborhood.
“I know citizens will be grateful,” said Ward 7 Councilman Willie Jennings, who represents and lives in Haven Acres.
Contact Emily Le Coz at (662) 678-1588 or emily.lecoz@djournal.com.
I guess its a done deal anyway...My billfold seems lighter today for some reason.
Don't get me wrong - I don't think anyone needs to have raw sewage backing up into their home. However, as far as future endeavors to possibly improve Haven Acres are concerned... despite how much money our genius city leaders sink into this neighborhood, it will still be what it is and nothing more. I am certain that there are not many actual homeowners in this area because there is a quite bit of government housing.
"I wonder if this would not be a good candidate for a temporary tax increase/bond issue etc for that area only to correct the problem."
The tax base is not there. The government is paying the way of the citizens in this community (sorry for the generalization). I do not believe that a bond issue can be supported with EBT cards.
from the way the article was written i thought they said the city had ordinances in place to prevent things from being built that way. i think it has come down to the homeowners simply can not pay to have it corrected. Seems like they would be able to apply for govt assistance instead of the city paying.
i HOPE they houses are resident owned and not rental property.
We had to get a permit, a Tupelo licensed plumber, run our own sewage line to where it connected to the city.
They used the water connection theory. Anything on your side of the water meter is yours, anything from the water meter back is the city.
My understanding may be wrong. That area looks like government funded housing so I imagine it met whatever regulations were in force at the time.
Over the years, some have been threatened with condemnation if they did not run their own lines because of these type problems. No doubt it is a health hazard backing up. Yet, if my understanding is correct, why have folks had to do it on their own dime and not these folks ?
I wonder if this would not be a good candidate for a temporary tax increase/bond issue etc for that area only to correct the problem.
If it is the city pipes they acquired when annexation happened, they should have fixed it years ago when problems began happening.
IF these houses were built in the city origianlly they would have never been allowed to this to happen. you know its those city codes that everyone loves to hate but actually do some good!
it is something that just needs to be done and nobody else is going to pay. at least with the grant money the city will not have to have the entire bill to pay.
the annexation hearing break seems like a great time to decide this and make the announcement.
It says "Raw sewage can clog easily at the connection site, causing it to flow back into the homes".
They're saying that more than one home is connected to a single sewer line that then connects to the main sewer line.
In other words, there are "branches" off the main sewer line to which 2-3 homes connect instead of individual connections to each home.
That sounds like an infrastructure problem, not anything that individual property owners did wrong.
I'm sure the individual property owners didn't design the sewer system for the subdivision.
It seem to be a flaw in the initial design of the sewer for the subdivision when it was developed.
The city assumed the responsibility for the sewer system in the subdivision when it annexed it over 20 years ago.
It's not the individual property owner's fault that the sewer system was poorly designed.
A property owner could have excellent plumbing on their side of things but if the pipe that they are connecting to is incapable of handling all of those connections, there will still be a problem.
It's not that complicated, the engineer seems to be saying that they are trying to put too much sewage through a single line. That's not a problem on the individual property owners side. That's a problem with the system that they are connecting to.
When the city annexes that area they assumed the responsibility for the maintenance of the infrastructure and now they're FINALLY making it the way it should have been all along.
It's sorta like buying a used car where the previous owner has "rigged" some stuff and now the new owner has the responsibility of redoing it if they want it to work correctly. The city bought that "used car" when they annexed the area, so it's their responsibility to make it run.
I'm sure they're charging those residents the same sewer fees that the rest of the city's citizens have to pay, so their sewer service should be at least as good as what everyone else is receiving.
Those citizens have been paying for substandard service for 20 years, so I think the city should spend whatever it has to in order to finally give those residents what they're paying for, a working sewer system.
It's sad that it's taken the city 20 years to finally step up the responsibility they assumed 20 years ago.
Having raw sewage back up into the homes of residents is not the hallmark of a "great city".
Past experience with the City has been....If its on your property...You fix it. If its the city side, the city (taxpayers) fix it.
I'll agree the timing for this out of the ordinary gesture seems to coincide with the last days of the current annexation trial.
Coincidence? I don't think so.
A sewer system that causes raw sewage to back up into a home is not just an inconvenience, but a potential public health issue as well.
And the city allowed this to go on for 20 years before committing to address it?
Way to go Tupleo!! Sure, you're read for another annexation!!
Stay classy, Tupelo!!
Whats so special about this particular neighborhood that the others don't have ?