Urbana residents kill $6.5M water project
By MARY PERHAM THE LEADER

URBANA - A proposed water district in the Town of Urbana was defeated by a 2- to-1 margin Monday night.

Town officials reported the proposal ws defeated 114 to 58, with one ballot disallowed because it was improperly marked.

Turnout for the special election was good, despite the threat of bad weather, according to town Clerk Deborah Pierce.

While more than 2180 people in district were eligible to vote, many are seasonal property owners and were not in the area, Pierce said. Parttime residents are not allowed to use absentee ballots during a special election, she said. "This is of course, very disturbing," said town Supervisor Richard Gardiner. "It means we're going to lose all (the money."

The $6.5 million project would have been paid by a combination of state awards and a 30-year no-interest loan.

The district would have included businesses and residences from Champlin Beach on East Lake Road south on state Route 54 to the Bath town line. Another segment of the district included the Mitchellsville Hill Road intersection with Brewer Hill.

The district was first proposed several years ago, but delays in getting the project underway added $1 million to construction costs.

The state increased its $2.1 million share of grant money to $3.1 million to offset the additional costs. Property owners would have been assessed for the remaining $3.4 million cost.

Gardiner said the town now will have to float a $500,000 bond to pay back the state for the engineering study. Property owners in the proposed district will be assessed a s et amount for the life of the bond, he said.

"It's too bad, they're going to have to pay back $500,000 and not get anything back for it," Gardiner said.

Gardiner blamed "a lot of deliberate misinformation" on the proposal's sound defeat.

Officials said there is no likelihood the proposal will be revisited. Competition for partially state-funded water or sewer programs has become more intense in recent year, while the funds are limited. Urbana's high property assessment also makes it unlikely it will be eligible for new grants. 'It's too bad, they're going to have to pay back $500,000 and not get anything back for it.' - Richard Gardiner Urbana town supervisor