Pewaukee council advances Blue Mound Road water and sewer plans while seeking smaller assessments for affected properties

Pewaukee staff presented options April 7 for extending municipal water and sewer along Blue Mound Road to serve Tacoma Hills and the Bluemont Industrial Park, improve fire protection and allow the city to abandon Well 5.

The proposal would place new mains in the county-owned Blue Mound Road pavement ahead of a planned Waukesha County repaving, an opportunity the city says reduces construction cost by permitting compacted granular backfill rather than slurry. Maggie (staff member) told the council the water portion of the lowest bid package was shown as about $1,439,000 and the sanitary sewer bid about $554,000; using the city's typical assessment methodology those costs would translate to six-figure assessments per parcel under several scenarios discussed at the meeting.

Maggie said the water main assessment per parcel under the city's standard approach would be roughly $126,445.89 for the main alone, and total per-parcel water costs including service laterals could range from about $141,000 to $157,000 depending on service size. Using the same standard approach, she said, the sewer main and laterals could add roughly $172,000 per parcel; together the strict-policy estimate would place each parcel's share above $300,000. "I feel strongly that both the sewer and the water should go in because I don't think these costs are going to get any cheaper," Maggie said, arguing the county paving window makes this the most economical time to install the mains.

The staff presentation included a set of smaller alternatives intended to reduce owner assessments. A trimmed "pipe-and-valve" option reduced the estimated water-assessment range to roughly $65,000–$78,000 per parcel; other alternatives produced estimates between $38,000 and $78,000 depending on exact routing and which connections are included. For sanitary sewer, staff said several assessment scenarios produced per-parcel estimates from about $60,000 up to the six-figure range; the lowest scenario assessed only pipe immediately in front of properties and excluded some manholes and tie-ins.

Council members and affected property owners pressed three themes: (1) the project benefits the wider system by creating a loop that improves fire flow and allows the city to retire a problem well (Well 5); (2) the raw assessment numbers would be financially painful to the small set of property owners on the county road; and (3) because the project may be recoverable, in part, through a future Public Service Commission (PSC) rate case, the city can consider shifting a larger share of cost to utility rates. Council members repeatedly asked for options that would reduce an individual property's immediate assessment while preserving the system benefit.

Council discussion covered timing and process. The county intends to repave Blue Mound Road in 2026; staff said the city's ability to use granular backfill now is a short-term savings opportunity. Bidders were instructed to hold prices for a limited period; staff said they would check whether contractors will extend bid hold periods if the council needs extra time. Maggie said notices to property owners must be mailed within the statutory window if the council intends to set a public hearing in early May; she asked for direction on the assessment cap the council wanted included in the engineer's report.

Council members proposed possible policy approaches to make assessments more predictable: a residential cap and a higher corporate/commercial cap, a fixed-dollar cap per lot (examples mentioned included $30,000–$53,000 ranges), requests for longer hook-up windows, and more use of the utility's balance to absorb costs. Maggie said the utility could and would cover a substantial share of the project cost under the alternatives she modeled; she gave an example where the utility's share rose to roughly $1.2–$1.3 million under a lower-assessment alternate. The council and staff also discussed whether the PSC would allow some of the looping-main cost to be included in systemwide fire-protection rates during the next rate case.

No formal assessment vote was taken. Instead the council signaled support for proceeding with the project while asking staff for revised assessments and a recommended cap to include in the engineer's report and for notices. The council directed staff to:

- Prepare and send required owner notices for a public hearing (meeting target: first May meeting, subject to statutory notice periods); - Return with a narrower set of assessed alternatives and a recommended per-parcel cap and financing/deferral options; and - Investigate whether bidders will extend their bid hold period or whether a special meeting will be required to avoid losing the low bid.

Why it matters: The project is intended to close a long dead-end segment that the city says creates a fire-protection risk, to enable abandoning an unreliable and costly well (Well 5) and to bring municipal sewer to businesses currently on septic systems. But only a small group of properties would carry most of the special-assessment burden unless the council and staff shift costs to the utility or to a broader rate base. A public hearing is planned once staff refines numbers; the council asked staff to return with specific recommendations for an assessment cap and financing options.

Next steps: Staff will refine alternatives and assessment caps, confirm bid-hold availability with bidders, and prepare notices and the engineer's report; council members asked for the item to return quickly so the city can take advantage of the county repaving window.