Archive: Sugar Bowl Sewer Extension Project

In 2009, Placer County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) approved the annexation of the East and West Villages into DSPUD’s service area to provide water and sewer services. The East and West Villages were first connected to the water system with the intent to connect to the sewer system in the future. The 2009 Annexation Agreement states that the properties would be required to connect to public sewer within 10 years or when septic systems fail, if treatment capacity is available.  DSPUD completed an upgrade and expansion of its wastewater treatment plant in 2015. The wastewater treatment plant now has the capacity to treat wastewater from the East and West Villages. The next step to providing the Villages with sewer service is to extend the public sewer lines to parcels that do not have access to the public sewer so that they can connect.

Public sewer lines will be constructed throughout the East and West Villages and sewer laterals will be installed from the public sewer pipe to the property line of each residential lot. DSPUD will be the lead agency for installation of the public sewer.

Individual property owners are responsible for the work on their property, including:

• DSPUD connection fees
• Private lateral pipe from the property line to the home
• Abandonment of any existing septic system

Each property owner is responsible for the cost of work on their property. The installation of the public sewer will be paid for by the benefiting property owners through a special tax that can be paid for all at once or financed and placed on the annual property tax bill.

The special tax is established by forming a Community Facilities District (CFD). The first step to forming the CFD is the preparation of a Rate and Method of Apportionment of Special Tax (RMA) that calculates the cost of the public sewer extension and apportions those costs to the benefitting properties. The DSPUD Board of Directors will review and approve the RMA and authorize the CFD election by the affected property owners.  Property owners will indicate support or opposition to CFD formation on the ballot. The Board can only form the CFD and impose the special tax if 2/3 of the ballots submitted vote in favor of the special tax.

Once the CFD is approved, property owners will be given an opportunity to either pay special tax or have the special tax placed on their annual tax bill.  After the prepayment period, DSPUD will issue bonds to finance the remaining costs to construct.

The Board adopted resolutions of intent to form the CFD and incur bonded indebtedness at the Board meeting on February 20, 2024. The RMA was also presented at that meeting. The Board then adopted resolutions authorizing the CFD and bonds at the regular Board meeting on March 26, 2024.  Ballots for the CFD and bond election will be mailed to property owners around May 27, 2024 and must be returned to DSPUD by close of business on June 25, 2024.  Ballots are planned to be tabulated and presented to the DSPUD Board for acceptance on July 16, 2024.

Construction bids from contractors for the first segment of the West Village sewer (Phase 2A) were received and opened on February 13, 2024.  DSPUD received advance funding for this segment from one property owner and Sugar Bowl Corporation. This allowed DSPUD to award the construction contract to Farr Construction for a contract amount of $1,594,685.  The contractor is in the process of obtaining performance bonds and executing the contract.  DSPUD anticipates that the construction of Phase 2A will be ready to begin in early Summer 2024, as soon as snow melts enough to allow the work to proceed. The remaining phases of the project (West Village-Phase 2B and East Village-Phase 1) would begin construction in Summer 2025 and potentially continue into Summer 2026.

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