Goodwill asked to join Clarksville

By MATT THACKER
newsroom@newsandtribune.com

May 06, 2008 10:20 am

— BridgePointe Services and Goodwill may officially become part of Clarksville in order to get the town’s support to run a sewer line down Applegate Lane.
Jorge Lanz, who serves on the board of directors for BridgePointe, asked for the Town Council’s approval to install an 8-inch gravity line, which would provide sewer access to BridgePointe and 27 nearby homes.
“This would be much easier, much cleaner if BridgePointe would volunteer to become part of Clarksville,” Councilman Bob Popp said.
The center sits just outside the boundary line for Clarksville. Because of not being part of the town, BridgePointe could be forced to buy easements or another city could try to annex it later.
Lanz and Caren Marshall, CEO of Bridgepointe, said they would want to get approval from the board of directors to become part of the town first, but thought it would not be a problem.
“I see only advantages to doing that,” Marshall said of the plan to join Clarksville.
She said that part of the organization is already in Clarksville, and this would make it easier for that branch, too.
The council voted to table the proposal until the next meeting, after the BridgePointe Board of Directors has had the
opportunity to meet.
Owners of those 27 properties would have to pay a $1,950 tap-in fee. Lanz said they sent out surveys to each home affected, and he said 12 respondents were in favor and four were against. Eleven homes did not respond.
There was some confusion about whether those homeowners would be forced to tap into the sewer. Lanz thought they would be required to by state law, but town engineer Tom Clevidence said the town could require them to, but does not have to.
The 8-inch line could handle 625 homes, Lanz said. Popp said he would rather have a second line or a bigger line that would be able to handle more homes. He did not want to see the street torn up later to keep up with development.
Councilman David Fisher said he knows several people who live along Applegate and said many of them have had problems with their septic tanks. He praised Lanz for presenting a workable plan.
“This is a way to clean up an area of Clarksville that has needed sewers for a long time,” he said.
The project is expected to cost $150,000.