After having reviewed the meeting notes from the Terrebonne Sanitary District’s (TSD) August meeting we have a concern about our friends that live in the Terrebonne Estates area. Many of you may not be aware that in this Northwest area of Terrebonne the homes do not have private septic systems. This area has a community septic system called Terrebonne Private Utility District (PUD) which as it says is a privately owned system.
From what we understand the owners of the Terrebonne PUD want to get out of the sewer business. They see the TSD as a means for them to get this done but they are going to require the members of their district to pay for it.
Understand that when the PUD says they want to “get out of the sewer business” what they are also saying is they want to develop the land that the system sits on to make money. Wanting to develop the land is understandable but to force the good folks of Terrebonne Estates to pay is another thing.
Here are a few things to think about:
Any properties outside the TSD boundaries (like Terrebonne Estates) have to voluntarily be annexed into the district in order to connect. If the PUD shuts down their system, the property owners would be required to connect to TSD. That does not sound like voluntary to us.
As it stands at this point the TSD is not requiring any property owner within the district to connect if they do not want to. How does this bode for the folks in the Estates… would THEY be required to connect when others would not? We do not believe this would be fair….EVER!
Once it is established that all of the properties in the Estates are required to connect, they will be subject to all fees and payments required by TSD.
As has been stated in the Terrebonne Sanitary District’s business plan, the cost to connect will be anywhere from $14,000 to $31,000 (check out TSD Cost to Hook Up for more info). Plus a monthly payment of about $100!
It is possible that the PUD could somehow adapt the current system to somehow connect to the TSD system to reduce the cost to the homeowners. Doing this would not relieve the homeowners of the responsibility to pay the $6,480 SDC fees or being saddled with forever escalating monthly fees.
Does the Terrebonne PUD have any responsibility to the property owners that are served by the sewer system? We do not know the answer to this question. The oversight organization for this kind of system is DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality). We have contacted DEQ to get some answers and will keep you updated.
Who can you contact to give your opinion or to ask for answers to your questions? We understand it is never easy to ask the tough questions but believe us they listen. Listed below are the three players in this situation. Feel free to speak to them.
Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) (541) 388-6146
Terrebonne Public Utility District (PUD) – (541) 385-6773
Terrebonne Sanitary District (TSD) – (425) 242-2458
Let your voices be heard. Contact the Terrebonne Sanitary District by phone, their website, or attend their meetings. Times and dates of all meetings are posted on their website.
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