Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Scarborough Lane Hydrants topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Scarborough Lane residents press authority for hydrants after house fire; board outlines options and cost estimates
Summary
Residents described a house loss and urged the authority to extend city water or install hydrants. Staff presented engineering options with widely different cost estimates and recommended meetings with the fire marshal and neighborhood petitioning before deciding.
Residents of Scarborough Lane returned to the Middletown Water Pollution Control Authority on May 7 seeking city action after a recent house fire.
John Banker, a Scarborough Lane resident who previously petitioned the authority, told the board the neighborhood has at least one buried water-storage tank and reported that firefighters were not able to save a house during an earlier blaze. He renewed calls for the authority to consider installing hydrants or extending the public water main.
Staff reviewed engineering options and high-level cost estimates. One lower-cost option, described as Option A, would add roughly 130 feet of 8-inch ductile iron pipe and related easement/tree-clearing work; the engineer’s earlier estimate cited by staff was in the low thousands for that narrow connection, though members cautioned that six-month-old estimates are likely higher now. Option B — extending to a different nearby street and adding a hydrant — was described in staff remarks as an approximate $80,000 engineer’s estimate. Staff also said more extensive extensions that would bring water closer to every house were estimated in the hundreds of thousands to more than $1 million (staff cited up to about $700,000–$1.13 million for full extensions).
"We do have a water tank that is actually buried on Scarborough Lane," a resident told the board during public comment, describing how water-storage limitations affected firefighting operations.
Board members discussed how the town historically handles petitions for a water extension (staff described a petition threshold and a cost-share model in which participating homeowners share the project cost). Staff said a typical petition model requires broad neighborhood participation and that homeowners may be able to pay via a deposit with a multi-year payment plan; staff gave an example per-property estimate used previously (about $4,000 per homeowner) for the less extensive option, while stressing that final costs depend on the selected design and current construction prices.
The board advised residents to meet with the fire marshal and the appropriate fire commission to confirm the fire department’s operational needs, then to reconvene with staff and the neighborhood to decide whether to submit a formal petition. Staff offered to accompany residents to a meeting with the fire marshal and said they would accept the remaining petitions collected by residents for the file.
Next steps: staff will coordinate a meeting with the fire marshal (Scott) and advise residents on petition thresholds and payment options; if neighbors agree to petition and meet the participation threshold, the authority would solicit contractor bids and proceed according to established procurement and council-review steps.
