Belgium to replace sewer and water mains; homeowners offered lateral-replacement options

Village of Belgium engineers briefed residents on a multi-phase sewer and water replacement project and focused on how homeowners’ private sewer laterals will be handled.

A presenter from McMahon Associates said the meeting’s "primary objective is to is to get to the point of talking about private sewer laterals," and described three parts of the sanitary system: the village-owned mainline sewer, the public portion of the lateral up to the right-of-way, and the private lateral on homeowner property. He said the village will replace mainline sewer and the public lateral, while private laterals are the homeowner’s responsibility unless they opt into the village-contractor program.

The presenters listed five streets included in the first-phase work — North Street, Lorraine Lane, Commerce Street, Liberty Street and North Liberty Street (water main only) — and said the sanitary work will be followed by a separate stormwater and road project planned for next year.

Engineers said many private laterals in the project area are old clay tile and "likely defective"; if a lateral is leaking or made of old materials, it will generally need replacement. The village offered two homeowner options: hire a private contractor to replace the lateral after the mainline is completed, or accept work from the village’s contracted crew as part of the main project. For the village option, engineers said crews will conduct a site visit, produce an itemized estimate from a pricing menu, and the homeowner can accept or decline before work proceeds.

On likely homeowner costs, the presenter gave a preliminary range of "2 to $5,000, I know it's a big range," saying exact cost depends on footage and complicating site conditions. He described three payment methods for work done by the village contractor: pay in full (no interest if paid by Nov. 1), place the charge on the property tax bill (with first-year payment avoiding interest if paid in full), or opt for a five-year tax-backed repayment that carries interest.

Residents raised concerns that doing the sewer-and-water phase first and deferring stormwater and roadwork to a later phase could worsen flooding during construction or leave unresolved drainage problems. One resident asked, "Is this project gonna resolve that issue?" Engineers replied that the project was phased for budgeting and timing reasons, that stormwater retention areas and detailed drainage designs are still being developed, and that some solutions may require easements or land acquisition.

Technical details discussed included trenchless 'pipe bursting' and open-trench methods for private lateral replacement; presenters described HDPE/PVC as typical replacement materials with expected service lives around 50–75 years. Contractors will try to stage work to preserve driveway access and limit disruptions, though brief service interruptions (an hour or so) may occur during tie-ins. The engineers said the village-contractor work generally carries a one-year correction/warranty period.

On schedule and budget, engineers estimated the sewer and water phase at just under $2,000,000, said bid advertisements were planned for late March to early April, that the earliest contractor start was "probably sometime in May," and that completion would likely be in the vicinity of Sept. 30. Past experience on Main Street (2012) was cited as an example of the village replacing private laterals to the house; attendees recalled earlier lateral costs around $16 per foot and average homeowner bills in the low thousands in that prior project.

The meeting closed after engineers and village staff said they would follow up on complex cases — such as laterals that cross other parcels or shallow laterals requiring insulation — and noted they would refine stormwater designs with community input before the next phase.