Board approves variance and recorded easement to allow private sewer lateral at 5705 East Morgan Avenue

The City of Evansville Water and Sewer Utility Board approved a variance March 4 to allow a private sewer lateral across an adjacent property at 5705 East Morgan Avenue, contingent on a recorded easement and related covenants.

Brett Summerstein of Morley spoke at the podium, explaining that the property owner, Bob Howard of Star Properties, obtained a 10-by-35-foot recorded easement needed to proceed. Summerstein said the sewer connection could not reach a nearby public sewer without pumping because of shallow grades and that staff and the developer had worked through the city’s policy requirements since July.

City staff told the board the variance request had been reviewed and that an executed, recorded easement satisfied the utility’s policy requirement for granting variances where private laterals cross third-party property. The board voted to add the item to the agenda and then to grant the variance on a voice vote.

Staff noted the easement has been signed and recorded; the variance approval allows the developer to move forward with the private lateral across the peak property to reach the public sewer connection.

The board did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript. The action was presented as a discrete variance approval rather than a policy change and does not itself alter the utility’s standard easement policy.