How Rehoboth Beach ocean outfall construction will affect residents
The main concern from Saturday's town hall on the Rehoboth Beach sewage outfall project was how residents would be affected during construction, which is set to break ground in October.
One expectation that is sure for residents is that all projects have to be done by May of next year, said Calvin George, of GHD, the engineering company in charge of construction.
"The project has to be functional, having the pump station, the force main and the ocean outfall all done and functioning, pumping treated effluent ... by June 1, 2018," he said.
The plan, approved May 25 by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, is in response to a court order that the city stop discharging treated sewer waste into the Lewes & Rehoboth Canal near the entrance to Rehoboth Bay.
BACKGROUND: Rehoboth Beach awards $37 million to ocean outfall contracts
"This is certainly a big project and something that the city has been working on for well over 20 years to get to this point," said Sharon Lynn, Rehoboth Beach city manager.
The largest disruption will be the the "force main" pipe, which is the 24-inch, 11,400 foot long pipe that will lead from the wastewater treatment plant to the Atlantic.
The pipe will be installed underground along Roosevelt Avenue, to Canal Street and along Rehoboth Avenue, through Grove Park, along the north side of Henlopen Avenue and finally to Deauville Beach where it will travel approximately 6,000 feet off the beach before diffusing treated wastewater into the ocean.
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During construction, crews are limited to a "six hour disruption," according to Mitch Seitz of A-Del Construction, one of the businesses involved in the project.
That means that during the installation of the force main piping, crews would be digging trenches along the designated route, laying pipe and having the excavation filled by the end of day, for the sake of both safety and expediency.
In response to one question about how residents would be notified when construction was set to take place in front of their houses, Jake Yohe, A-Del Construction, said they'd be notifying residents as best they could.
"We'll be hanging flyers on doors, but once the day of construction gets closer it'll be easier to just knock on everybody's doors," Yohe said. "Unfortunately, we can't hop over sections, so we have to keep going in a linear motion with the pipe, so we're going to do our best to work with you."
Yohe added that there may be brief periods of one to three hours where residents along the construction route may be unable to access their homes via their driveways, but it would be a very temporary inconvenience, "unless something crazy happens that's unforeseen."
Lynn, the city manager, said there would be adequate communication and oversight of the project from both the city and the project leaders.
"There'll also be constant communication from the city, from the communications department, with GHD," Lynn said. "GHD will have at least one inspector staying here in the city for the six-month period of time and those individuals will be in constant communication with the city and certainly with the contractors."
Additionally, there is a "project update" link for the outfall project located prominently on the city website, Lynn said.
GHD also stated that all roads, medians and beach landscape disrupted by the project would be replaced with gravel, asphalt or seed, as was appropriate to the location's original state.
About the project
On Aug. 14, the $37.36 million awarded to the lowest bidders was distributed to the following companies for their four roles in the project:
• Allan Myers MD, Inc., Wastewater treatment plant capital improvement project phase 1 and Wastewater treatment plant effluent pumping station project, $2.25 million and $1.76 million respectively.
• Manson Construction Co., Ocean outfall project, $27.65 million.
• A-Del Construction, Force main project, $5.7 million.