Prompting applause and cheers from about 25 residents in attendance, Wednesday, July 21, at an informational meeting, Clearwater River Watershed District managers officially awarded the bid and approved construction of the controversial Clearwater Harbor Centralized Sewer System. It was a relief for many residents who have been in limbo since a lawsuit was filed in the fall of 2002, when 20 homeowners in the project area said they did not want to be included in it. “We’ve been waiting forever and the longer we wait the more the project costs,” said Jeremy Sivula, who lives on Baxter Road in the Clearwater Harbor addition. “Lets get started.” The sewer system was sought because many homes in the area have failing or non-conforming septic systems. The area is densely populated and the many homes are landlocked and do not have enough property to have their own septic drainfields. Some of the systems are leeching and polluting Clearwater Lake, Grass Lake and the Clearwater River. Newer state septic laws make it impossible for the homeowners to update their sewage systems, and a centralized system seemed like the solution to CRWD managers. The watershed district won its case in Stearns County Court on July 14 and quickly awarded the bids, so construction could being as soon as August, despite an appeal by opponents. At 7 p.m., Wednesday, July 28, in the Annandale Middle School gymnasium, residents will be able to express their thoughts and concerns about the $1.5 million, 82-unit, centralized sewer system at a public hearing. The appeals court could still issue an order to stop construction, but now the judge would probably require the appellants to put up a $360,000 bond to cover increased construction costs if the project was put off for another year, said Tom Melloy, the watershed’s lawyer. “If the watershed awards the bids and court stops construction, the question is who would have to bear the cost,” Melloy said. “If the appeals court upholds the district court’s decision, then the appellants would. If the appeals court said district court was wrong then the district would have to absorb the cost.” Melloy advised the board that he felt the district should go ahead with construction. Bringing the lawsuit not only delayed construction and drove up costs, but it also changed the way residents would be assessed for the project. As first proposed two years ago, the fee for the system was split up evenly and each home was to pay $15,800 for the system. The appellants said the fee was not proportional to the value of their homes and filed a lawsuit. The court asked for an appraiser to assess the value of the property in the project and determine if the cost for the project would be proportional to the property value of each home. “It’s not fair,” said Sivula. “Why should I have to pay more for my home than someone down the street? We are getting the same thing but mine costs more.” Watershed manager Roland Froyen acknowledged many of the residents’ frustration. The lawsuit has caused the project cost to increase significantly and now the assessments cause some residents to bare more of the project cost. The judge decided that the assessment for each resident will not be the same but will be based on the type of property they own. The appraiser determined there were three types of properties: prairie lots, property that had no lake access; canal lots, property that had lake access via canals, and lakeshore lots, property that was on the lake. “We made decision to do everyone the same,” Froyen said. “We went to the court and they made us change it.” The court decided that prairie lots would not be assessed more than $15,000 for the project, canal lots would not be assessed more than $17,000, and lakeshore lots would not be assessed more than $23,000. Ironically, only 10 of the 20 people who brought the lawsuit will see relief, and it’s only $800 per hookup. The remaining 10 will pay more. Of the appellants, 10 have prairie lots and will pay $15,000 for each lot, four have canal lots and will pay $17,000, and six have lakeshore lots and will pay $19,222. Out of the 20 appellants they will have 21 hookups to the system. The remaining homes in the project will bear the same costs based on their type of home. The sewer project will have 82 hookups, including 60 from Clearwater Harbor homes on the west side of Grass Lake while the rest will be from Beachwood Road, west of Highway 144. The project calls for installing a gravity sewer system, which will be hooked up to all 82 homes. The sewer lines will flow into three separate lift stations, which will pump the sewage through force mains to three large septic tanks and to a recirculating sand filter and pressurized drain field.