AVON-BY-THE-SEA — The Avon-By-The-Sea Commissioners, at the Monday, April 24 meeting, discussed the Marine Place Sewer Report with borough engineer Ray Savacool, where it was determined that some of the sewer will need to be replaced for around $400,000.
“I think this report gives us a roadmap and I think we can follow up on these recommendations and address the problems he has identified in his report,” said Avon Mayor Ed Bonanno.
At the first commissioner meeting of the new year, Avon residents discussed sewer clogging issues they experienced around Dec. 23, 2022 and on New Year’s Day, which left them fearful that their basements could be subject to flooding with sewage.
As a short-term solution, the commissioners agreed to place an alarm in the sewer lines along Marine Place, so that a blockage can be detected promptly. Some of the residents asked for alarms to be placed on Fifth Avenue as well, but the commissioners explained they had a limited number of alarms.
Also, the borough’s engineering department is investigating to find out what is causing the blockages and what is the best way to prevent them. The investigation started over the winter months of this year and a camera was placed in the sewer to videotape the lines and determine what could be clogging them.
At this most recent meeting, the borough engineer read out his project findings, which included a lot of issues with roots invading the lines and issues with the lack of sloping to help move the sewage along.
Concluding the presentation of his findings, Mr. Savacool offered the solution of replacing the terracotta sewer lines from Garfield Lane between Fourth Avenue and Marine Place and on Marine Place between Lincoln Avenue and Garfield Avenue with new 8-inch PVC pipe. He also suggested upsizing the sewer lines from Fifth Avenue to Marine Place with 8-inch pipes instead of the current 6-inch pipes.
“During the course of our discussions in the last few meetings we had some other ideas about rerouting sanitary flows from Main Street across Main Street, and I believe that would be inherently expensive,” said Mr. Savacool, “or potentially tying it into Lincoln Avenue. This would reduce flow on Garfield Lane but not correct the problem. I don’t see that as being a viable alternative. Screens and traps are sometimes used but I can’t see that either because we don’t know who would be in charge of maintenance and cleaning of those traps…My conclusion is that we would recommend the borough consider a project to replace the sanitary sewer from the mid block of Garfield lane to Fifth Avenue. Then from Fifth Avenue to Marine Place and both legs of Marine Place.”
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