Bixby: Working Toward 2012 Construction

The small town of Bixby is located 12 miles southeast of Owatonna in the southeast corner of the Cannon River watershed. Since 2007 the community has been working on upgrading its sewer system. Right now, much of the community’s sewage is discharged untreated into the Straight River. Bixby has the last known community straight pipe in Steele County. The construction of a new sewer system and the abandonment of Bixby’s community straight pipe would mark a significant milestone for CRWP’s effort s to reduce pollution from untreated sewage in the watershed.

Steele County, which will own and operate the new sewer system, is in the process of gathering signatures from property owners for easements needed to construct and maintain the sewer system. Of the 28 needed, six are still unsigned. While not getting all the easements signed by next spring won’t derail the project entirely, it would make constructing the new sewer system more difficult. Over the next couple months, community members, Steele County staff, and CRWP will be working to convince the holdout property owners to sign the easements. 

Roberds Lake Project Steams Ahead

The Roberds Lake Sewer Project has been in the news quite a bit lately. And for good reason. The Rice County Board approved establishing a subordinate service district, which is a huge step for the project. The district will allow Rice County to construct, operate, and maintain a sewer line around Roberds Lake to connect to the City of Faribault. By establishing the district, the Rice County Board effectively agreed to sponsor the project and help the Roberds Lake residents continue to move the project forward.

News coverage from the Faribault Daily News:

http://faribault.com/content/roberds-lake-sewer-hearing-draws-big-crowd

http://faribault.com/content/vote-roberds-lake-sewer-district-expected-next-week

http://faribault.com/content/rice-county-moves-ahead-roberds-lake-service-district

Roberds Lake Sewer Group Holds Public Meeting

On December 6th, the Roberds Lake Sewer Group held two community meetings and open houses (one in the afternoon, a second in the evening) to share the results of the feasibility study on constructing a sewage collection pipe around the lake that would hook in to the City of Faribault’s waste treatment plant.

About 75 people attended the meetings. (There are approximately 234 properties around the lake.) Attendance was not quite as high as hoped, but overall, the response was very positive. Those who attended were given a survey asking them if they are interested in hooking up if the project goes forward. This survey has also been mailed out to those property owners who did not attend the meeting. So far, fifty-five surveys have been returned, with forty-one interested in hooking up (75%) and fourteen not interested (25%). To see coverage of the meeting in the Faribault Daily News, click here.

Next steps for the project include following up with those property owners who have not returned their survey and updating the Rice County Board on the community meetings and survey results.