By Jake Palmateer
Staff Writer
WEST ONEONTA _ The Oneonta Town Board is planning a series of informational meetings on a proposed water district for Southside.
An early configuration of the district has a construction cost estimate of $8.8 million and would run water lines from the Davenport town line to the Main Street intersection.
The board approved holding the meetings at its meeting Tuesday night, but no dates have been set.
The water district is only in a conceptual phase.
Approval would require a vote by the residents in the proposed district, Town Supervisor Robert Wood said.
The project would need to be at least partially bonded and the cost of repaying the bond would be borne by the residents of the district over a period of years in addition to their annual water usage fees, Wood said.
Wood said the project may potentially be leveraged by some outside funding.
The town's engineering firm, Lamont Engineers, has been working on the concept and will participate in the information meetings, Wood said.
Informal polling of Southside business and property owners
conducted by the town showed widespread support for a water district, Councilman Carlton Delameter said.
"I think the businesses out there definitely want it," Delameter said.
Large-scale water users such as Walmart must maintain their own systems and test their water daily, Wood said.
Mirabito said the water district could be tailored in design to include only those properties that want it.
"We could carve up the territory out there," he said.
It could also be extended to
Old Southside Drive, a primarily residential road, if the residents were in favor of that, Mirabito said.
"This is just information at this point," he said.
