MOUNT VERNON – Public concerns regarding a water line project along Pittsburgh Avenue surprised Mount Vernon City Council members at their March 8 meeting when they expected to hear an update on supplying the Schnormeier Event Center at Ariel-Foundation Park with water.
Councilwoman Tammy Woods, who heads the Utilities Committee, saw her motion to indefinitely suspend the Pittsburgh Avenue water line project approved.
The Ariel Foundation has until November to get a fire suppression system installed at the event center. Once they put doors on the building, the fire marshal said the system was required and set a deadline. The original concept had been to run the water line from the event center to Harcourt Road, but at least five gas pipelines were in the way, Ball said. So getting the water line to the event center was separated from the Pittsburgh water line project.
Ball confirmed that the water line project for the event center is moving forward.
“Norton Street has a 12-inch transmission main that feeds the industrial park,” Ball said. “We would tap into that and run it over and into the building.”
The project is under contract and the materials are ordered, he said. Meetings are being held with the Ariel-Foundation Park Conservancy to time installation in between weddings.
“The Foundation Park has the fire suppression system under contract,” Ball said. “They’re just waiting for the water line to appear. So that is taken care of.”
Woods said in an interview after the meeting that the council had approved only the event center project in December 2019. The engineering for a project from Columbus Road to the event center and over to Harcourt Road would be much more than the $50,000 limit Ball has on projects that do not require council approval.
“Everybody assumed he was bringing us the contract or agreement to put in that suppression system,” she said.
Then the calls started coming in about engineering going on out on Pittsburgh Avenue.
Businesses had been asking for water in that area, along with people who have bought property there, Woods said.
Councilman Mike Hillier said City Council had conversations about running water out to Sixth and Seventh streets and over to Harcourt Road back in 2019.
“We were going to force these people to pay for water whether they use it or not,” he said, noting that it would be a hardship on the people in that area.
The council only voted to authorize engineering for the event center water line project at the time.
The consequence was that if new pipe runs by your house, you have to pay a monthly accessibility fee whether you want water or not, Woods said. A hookup charge would be assessed if you do want water.
What complicates matters is that those properties are in Clinton Township and not Mount Vernon. Not only would those people have to pay Mount Vernon, but they still must pay a fee to Clinton Township for its wastewater collection project.
City Engineer Brian Ball was instructed to continue his survey by mail of property owners along Pittsburgh Avenue, Sixth and Seventh streets who would be served by the project to report their interest to council. He also was asked to bring back financial figures for the project.Ball said each property owner would be sent a letter by mail explaining the project. A postcard would be provided with each letter to allow them to say if they wanted water service.
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