The Edgecomb Planning Board met for the fifth time to consider Tony Casella’s proposed three-cottage development on Davis Island Thursday, June 18. Chip Griffin, the planning board’s counsel, recommended Casella meet approximately 27 conditions before the application is approved.
The underlying theme of those conditions – ensure proper maintenance of Davis Island’s privately owned sewer pump and sewer lines and release the town of Edgecomb from liability in the event they fail.
The sewer pump and sewer lines, however, are not owned by Casella, complicating his ability to meet the proposed conditions. Despite this, a public hearing regarding the new development has been scheduled for Thursday, July 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Edgecomb Town Office.
Casella requested his subdivision review application for his new development, known as the Village at Sheepscot, be pushed forward for final review after the public hearing.
Anthony Constantino, president of the Sheepscot Village and Resort Homeowners Association, accompanied Casella and his agent, Karl Olson, to the planning board meeting to address unresolved issues surrounding Davis Island’s sewer system.
There are currently three Davis Island developments that utilize the sewer system installed as part of the Tax Increment Financing district, a public private partnership designed to spur economic growth – the Davis Island Townhouses, the Sheepscot Harbour Village & Resort, and the View at Sheepscot. Casella’s proposed Village at Sheepscot would add a fourth.
Once the development is complete and the units are sold, private individuals own the units and homeowners associations are responsible for the maintenance of the property, Casella said.
The Sheepscot Village and Resort Homeowners Association, or Village Association, maintains two sewer pumps that transport wastewater across the Sheepscot River to the Wiscasset Waste Water Treatment Plant.
According to Constantino, the cost of maintaining the two pumps over the past three years has been approximately $12,000. The View Association contributed approximately 10 percent of those costs, Constantino said.
The Davis Island Townhouses, constructed by Community Housing of Maine, has never paid toward the maintenance of the sewer system, Constantino said.
No further development at the site, a copy of the service and maintenance agreement for the sewer pump, indemnity for the town if the sewer pump fails, code enforcement officer approval for accessing the sewer lines, connecting a generator to the sewer pump, and authorizing Edgecomb to inspect the sewer pump were among the 27 conditions Griffin recommended the Edgecomb Planning Board attach to approval of Casella’s proposed development.
Griffin also recommended a $5 million insurance policy for the pump. “That you’re not going to get,” Casella said. “No insurance company in the world would write that policy for a third party.”
“Can we get some assurance there is insurance if it fails?” Griffin said. The pump is covered by the association’s general liability insurance policy, which is not the planning board’s business, Constantino said.
According to Constantino, the sewer system failed in 2013 as a result of a power outage. Sewage from the Davis Island Townhouses was sent to the Village Association’s pump when the pump was offline, causing a sewage backup which cost the association thousands of dollars to clean up, Constantino said.
The town was approached about the issue between the two developments when the backup occurred, but took no action, Constantino said.
“We can control our environment,” Constantino said. However, neither Casella, the View, nor the Village associations have any control over the Davis Island Townhouses.
Preservation Management Inc., property manager for the Davis Island Townhouses, could not be reached for comment by press time.
“I’m here saying we all need to sit down and work this out for everybody,” Constantino said.
Casella questioned the ability of the planning board to include conditions regarding the property of private associations into his proposed development. “These are things I can’t speak to,” Casella said.
