FARMINGTON – Representatives from a development company and engineering firm asked selectmen Tuesday to consider a reduction in a proposed sewer connection fee for a Home Depot store to be built on Wilton Road.
Armed with plan maps and historical data, Al Palmer of Gorrill-Palmer Consulting Engineers of Gray and Mark Conley of W/S Development Associates of Chestnut Hill, Mass., asked selectmen to assess the connection fee based on actual use rather than the current fee formula, which they called arbitrary.
In an April 20 letter to Chairman Mary Wright, Gorrill-Palmer’s vice president of site development, William Haskell, calculated the connection fee for the proposed 104,686-square-foot building to be $209,372 based on the district’s retail rate. He argued, however, that this rate “does not appear to be founded on a parameter that directly relates to the actual impact of the project to the sewer collection and treatment system.”
He went on to calculate a connection fee of $11,250, based on 24 times the fee for a three-bedroom residence – the proportional size difference between a single-family home and the box store.
“The applicant and tenant understand that this project will have impacts to the community and are willing to pay their fair share to mitigate those impacts,” he wrote. “However, they feel it is unfair to base the impact mitigation on a parameter that does not reflect that fair share,” he continued.
Palmer asked selectmen to consider basing the connection fee on commercial rates, rather than retail, saying the town could monitor use and adjust as necessary.
“We’ll pay the fee,” he said. “But we’d rather see it based on actual usage as opposed to an arbitrary number.”
Wright told representatives that although they could demonstrate historical data from other Home Depots in the state, Farmington’s sewer district is not municipal but paid for by users, about 80 percent of whom are businesses along the Wilton Road corridor.
Conley, representing the developer, said the site across from Wal-Mart at the intersection of Knowlton Corner Road is very expensive and beyond a normal budget for such a project. He cited bridge work over Wilson Stream, a water tank needed for fire abatement and soil issues as additional costs that, along with the current sewer connection fee, total almost $1.5 million above the norm.
“If we don’t find a way to trim that back, we can lose that site,” he said. “If Home Depot can’t make it (on the site), no other retail will be able to,” he added. Developers expect to complete their feasibility studies within a month and hope to finish the planning process by year’s end.
Mavis Buzzell, wastewater clerk for the district, said that if the project had been assessed for connection fees on the original formula created in 1984, it would have cost $51,895.80. She called the $11,000 proposal ridiculous.
Code Enforcement Officer Steve Kaiser urged selectmen to consider the proposal more generically. Formulas were based on small retail businesses, not big-box stores, agreed Steve Moore, wastewater superintendent.
Town Manager Richard Davis admitted the district’s connection fees are the highest in the state.
Buzzell suggested looking at peak flows to find a suitable compromise.
An ad hoc committee of water district employees and Selectman Charles Murray will study the issue and report back to selectmen at their next meeting May 10.
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