Barrie Tilghman’s October Surprise

Longer Building Moratorium in the North End of Salisbury.

Earlier this year the City imposed a partial freeze on building permits because the capacity of the sewer system “lift station” (pumps) located at the DP&L property on Route 13 was almost maxed out. That came as no surprise to the mayor and her administration – they knew for at least several years that the development occurring in that area was rapidly reaching the lift station’s limit, but had not addressed the matter.

A contract for expedited engineering services to build an enlarged lift station was rushed thru and awarded to the firm George, Miles & Buhr, which recently advised the City that work will require an even longer period and $500,000 more construction cost than estimated. But that’s only the minor shock, it seems. The engineering study has determined that the increased volume of sewage to be pumped thru the larger capacity lift station will be too great for the “downstream” sewer mains to handle. There is no estimate of the additional cost and further delay to upgrade those mains, which are located in Northwood Drive and North Division Street.

These latest disclosures by the mayor will be discussed at today’s work session of the Salisbury City Council in Room 306 of the Government Office Building, along with the cost of infrastructure work that developers promised but have have failed to do.