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Cambridge Greens Septic-to-Sewer
PROJECT UPDATES
Road Closures for Construction
There will be road closures on E. Monopoly Loop from 4/15/2024 through 4/26/2024. The area of closure is between E. Ventor Ln. & N. Chance Way. The road closures for vehicular traffic and are necessary for the installation of sewer infrastructure on the street. The road closure will occur daily from 7:30 am until approximately 4:00 pm to allow for the work. Residents living within the closure will have access to their property, as well as emergency personnel, deliveries, and garbage pickup.
Road Closures for Paving
There will be road closures on E. Ventor Ln., E. Hartford St., E. Pacific Ln. and N. Reading Pt. for manhole adjustments and paving. The closures will be between 4/16/2024 through 4/26/2024. Residents living within the closure will have access to their property, as well as emergency personnel, deliveries, and garbage pickup.
Restoration of Right of Way
After paving, the contractor will be installing a strip of sod along the newly paved roadways and hydroseeding bare areas. This measure is to curb erosion and does not represent the final sodding of the areas which will be later in the project.
Southwest Florida Water Management District Cambridge Greens Video
Cambridge Greens Septic-to-Sewer Project is a joint project between the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) and Citrus County. It's objective is to protect water quality in the State's second largest spring-shed: Kings Bay in Crystal River. This video from SWFWMD explains the project.
CONSTRUCTION BEGAN: October 16, 2023
The contractor Commercial Industrial Corp. (CIC) has been staging material on site, and will begin the sewer installation Monday the 16th. They will be starting at E. Monopoly Loop just south of E. Ventor Ln and moving north along Monopoly. The Contractor will be testing, paving and restoring areas as they complete a section. Attached is the project sign located on E. Monopoly Loop.
Sewer Layout Plans for Cambridge Greens Septic-to-Sewer Project are now available.
Winning Construction Bid Awarded
The bid for Cambridge Greens Septic to Sewer Project closed on Wednesday March 15th. There were three bidders for the project. The winning bid was from Commercial Industrial Corp. (CIC) with a bid of $10,492,201.19. The bid was reviewed by the County staff and the consultant Pigeon Ardurra. The recommendation of award from the consultant the Construction Agreement was approved by the BOCC in May.
Construction Date
A Notice to Proceed date was agreed upon by Commercial Industrial Corporation (CIC) and Citrus County Water Resources of August 28, 2023. The later start date was necessary due to the extended lead time for delivery of project materials.
Permanent Reassignment of Development Rights Process
This explains the DVR Process, what it means to the property owner, and how to begin if the owner decides to go through the process.
Construction Starting Location
The Contractor, Commercial Industrial Corp. will begin construction at the lift station site CG-01. This is on Monopoly Loop at the SW corner of the Drainage Retention Area (DRA). The lift stations approximate DRA location is 200 ft south of E. Ventnor Ln and 100 ft north of E. Oriental Ct. Working out from the lift station, the Contractor will install gravity sewer lines, laterals and manholes. Once all the gravity sewer lines and manholes are complete for this lift station the Contractor will move on to the next lift station installation.
PROJECT OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this project is to improve water quality by connecting existing residential development--Cambridge Greens--which is adjacent to the County's central wastewater collection system. This residential area is currently served by private onsite treatment & disposal systems (septic tanks), which have been identified in the draft Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) as a source of nutrient loading to the groundwater and surface waters of Crystal River, an Outstanding Florida Waterway. In addition, Crystal River/Kings Bay has been deemed to be an impaired waterbody under Chapter 62-303(d) F.A.C. due to nutrient levels and associated algal mats.
PROJECT TIMELINE
Construction is expected to last 520 calendar days, concluding in January 2025. At that point residents will be notified of Sewer Availability and the Residential Service Connections phase of the project will begin. This process will last one year, concluding in January 2026.
PROJECT FUNDING
Citrus County is taking advantage of several funding sources as follows:
- Florida Department of Environmental Protection – Springs Funding – $5,750,000
- Southwest Florida Water Management District – Cooperative Funding Initiative (SWFWMD – CFI) – $1,450,500 Requires a dollar for dollar match from the County
- Citrus County Utilities Match for SWFWMD CFI - $1,450,500
- American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)– Citrus County Board of County Commissioners commitment is to use ARPA funds to buy down project costs to limit assessments to no greater than $6000 per property
- State Legislative Appropriation – $2,771,474
- Citrus County Utilities Funding - $377,810
Total assessment buy down funds not including ARPA - $10,500,284
The above grants also include FDEP funds for connection fees and onsite plumbing costs ($4000 per property) - $1,300,000
SEPTIC TO SEWER IN FLORIDA & CITRUS COUNTY
The State of Florida enacted the Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act in 2016 to address growing concern related to degradation of the State’s springs. In particular, the issue of nutrient pollution.
Part of the Florida Springs Protection Act was a requirement that the State assess the condition of its first order magnitude springs and determine if any impairments existed. This program was called the Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) Program. Under that program, all of the first order magnitude springs in Citrus County (Crystal River/Kings Bay, Homosassa and Chassahowitzka) were evaluated, and all were determined to be impaired due to excess nitrogen discharging from the springs.
Once the impairment was established through the TMDL Program, the State then prepared a Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) to identify the sources of the nutrient pollution and create a plan for remediating the problem. The BMAPs for all the County springs were prepared and adopted by the State of Florida, which obligates the County to take action to resolve the problem. Septic tanks were identified as a major source of nitrogen pollution in all of the springsheds within the County and were the largest source of nitrogen pollution in the Crystal River/Kings Bay springshed. Cambridge Greens is within the Priority Focus Area of the Crystal River/Kings Bay springshed, and thus the septic tanks within that area are included within the remediation area of the BMAP.
The County is moving forward with septic to sewer projects to address the requirement by the State of Florida to reduce the nutrient loading to the County’s springs. We, as a community, are obligated to implement measures to meet the State’s nutrient reduction requirement and septic tanks have been identified by the State as a major source of nutrient pollution effecting the springs.
The County has been implementing septic to sewer projects for many years in the areas adjacent to our environmentally sensitive spring fed rivers and estuaries. Most of Crystal River and Chassahowitzka are now on central sewer and the County is currently working on a multi-phased project to sewer the portions of Homosassa that are still on septic tanks. The shift toward areas more inland from the coastal communities was in direct response to the findings of the BMAP, which showed that the high number of septic tanks in the central ridge area of the County (Citrus Hills, Pine Ridge, Beverly Hills, Citrus Springs, etc.) were resulting in a rise in nitrogen levels in our groundwater and springs.
The County looked at two main factors to determine the areas within the central ridge area where provision of sewer service was feasible. They are the density of septic tanks within a given area, and the proximity of the area to existing sewer facilities for ease of connection and reduced costs. The Cambridge Greens area meets both categories and was determined to be a very good candidate for a septic to sewer conversion. There was also a sewer feasibility study completed in 2021 that confirmed Cambridge Greens as a good candidate for sewer expansion and identifies many other areas for similar projects that will be moving forward over the next several years.