Franklin Lakes Sewer on Track for July Completion

The Franklin Lakes sewer line is on track for completion by mid-July, putting the construction ahead of its initial timeline, according to the Waldwick-based Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority.

The authority broke ground on the sewer last May, with an expected construction time of 15-18 months. The project had been the result of years of discussion between the authority and the borough.

Funded through a low-interest $5.2 million loan from the state Environmental Infrastructure Trust, with the NBCUA only required to pay around 80 percent of the loan back, the authority has said the line will prevent decaying septic systems from adversely impacting the environment.

The authority’s executive director Howard Hurwitz said Monday that, barring unforeseen roadblocks, the project will be completed by mid-July, with no mandatory hookups for Franklin Lakes residents.

According to the borough website, Pulis Avenue closed last week between Old Mill Road and Woodside Avenue for the final phases of the project, and will remain closed until completion around July 15.

No businesses or residents will be required to hook up to the line, which will run through Franklin Lakes’ business district. Borough officials had voiced concerns that the authority would require residents to switch over to the sewage line as a condition of providing access to the borough.

“There’s no mandatory hook-ups. [Franklin Lakes] made that very clear, and the authority doesn’t have the authority doesn’t have the right to enforce mandatory hook-ups,” said Hurwitz, adding that only the state’s Department of Environmental Protection has the legal authority to mandate individual switches from septic to sewer.

“They’ve put the sewer through our streets at their cost—no cost to Franklin Lakes,” borough mayor Frank Bivona said. “Part of the agreement to allow them to do that was that there be no mandatory hook-ups. Just because they build it, that doesn’t mean Franklin Lakes residents on that line have any obligation to hook up to that facility.”

The NBCUA collects per-gallon fees for access to the sewage line, but the borough will act as a financial intermediary, collecting usage fees from residents that decide to switch over, and paying the revenues to the authority.

Under a pending ordinance, which Bivona said will likely be adopted after the borough finalizes an agreement with the authority, single family houses and businesses would pay an annual charge of $462 for sewer access, with commercial fees increasing based on usage in excess of 104,000 gallons.

The line, Bivona said, is a trunk line, from which the borough is likely to slowly expand over time.

“We as Franklin Lakes over time will build connector lines,” he said. “And that will happen slowly, but over time you’ll have different areas that say, ‘I’d like to hook up with that.’ And we’ll work with either developers or we’ll do it ourselves for individual neighborhoods to slowly add to that facility.”

The line will also likely expand past Franklin Lakes, as according to Hurwitz, the authority is aiming to reach fuller capacity. Its pumping station is now operating at only 55-60 percent capacity, he said.

Though plans are yet to solidify, Hurwitz said that the authority has met with officials in Oakland, and the line could move north from Franklin Lakes to expand access to residents there.

“Oakland has a real problem,” Hurwitz said. “In 2010 we met with Oakland, and with the DEP, to try to work something out.”

Oakland has previously studied the potential impacts of a sewer system, and Hurwitz said the borough is weighing options for installing a line.