The Brown County Regional Sewer District Board will conduct a public hearing next week about its plans to bring sewer service to Bean Blossom.
The hearing, which is a required step before the board applies for funding, is scheduled at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 19 in the County Office Building’s Salmon Room, 201 Locust Lane.
Various boards have been working since the early 2000s to bring sewer service to Bean Blossom-area homes and businesses.
The current plan is to spend about $7.3 million on building a wastewater treatment plant in Bean Blossom, possibly along Gatesville Road, and running sewer lines to customers.
The area the sewer board is looking at serving would include about 275 customers along State Road 135 North and its offshoots in the Bean Blossom area, the Bean Blossom Trailer Court, Old Settlers Road, Bittersweet Road, Little Fox Lake, Woodland Lake, Covered Bridge Road, and Freeman Ridge Road, as well as parts of State Road 45 and Gatesville Road.
The board plans to apply to USDA Rural Development, the State Revolving Loan Fund and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs for a combination of grants and loans to build the wastewater system.
Sewer board President Judy Swift Powdrill said the cost to sewer customers per month won’t be finalized until after the funding agencies respond, but based on initial conversations with them, it’s likely to be between $65 and $85 per month. The county scored high on financial need, so she is hoping the monthly sewer bill will be on the lower end of that range.
The board also wants to get all the initial installation costs covered for customers, she said.
The report on file at the recorder’s office has the project being completely finished by the end of 2020. However, Swift Powdrill estimated that the completion date is three years out.
The backup plan, if state agencies don’t approve the district’s plan to build its own treatment plant, is to convey Bean Blossom wastewater to Nashville’s treatment plant on the west side of town. That’s what board members told the county council last month when they were seeking startup money from the county.
In order to get construction started on this Bean Blossom plant, the regional sewer board needs about $270,000, and it has asked for that much from the county council. The council plans to vote on that request at its June 18 meeting. Discussion at the May council meeting centered on how much this service was needed to sustain and grow the Bean Blossom area.
The preliminary engineering report for the Bean Blossom sewer project is available for viewing at the Brown County recorder’s office, in the County Office Building lower level, until Tuesday, June 26.
Written comments also will be accepted until June 26 and should be sent to: Brown County Regional Sewer District, P.O. Box 1881, Nashville, IN 47448.
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WHAT: Bean Blossom-area sewer plan public hearing
WHEN: 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 19
WHERE: Second-floor Salmon Room, County Office Building, 201 Locust Lane
CAN’T GO? Read the plan at the Brown County recorder’s office during weekday business hours through Tuesday, June 26. Written comments also will be accepted through June 26 to: Brown County Regional Sewer District, P.O. Box 1881, Nashville, IN 47448.
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