Larkfield sewer funding plan coming before Sonoma County supervisors

Sonoma County supervisors will consider a plan Tuesday that would help bring sewer service into a burned area of Larkfield where homes were connected to septic systems before they were destroyed in the October wildfires.

Acting as directors of the Sonoma County Water Agency, supervisors will have a chance to move forward with a financing program designed to expand the sewer system in the Larkfield Estates area around of Old Redwood Highway and Mark West Springs Road. Numerous homes there, most of them southeast of the intersection, were not on sewer service before the disaster.

Property owners who opt in to the financing program would have to pay connection fees and additional money for construction costs. The connection fees, due at the time of occupancy, total about $12,000 and annual loan payments would be about $750. The construction costs are estimated conservatively at $45,000 and annual loan payments - which wouldn’t be due for 10 years, with no interest accruing in the meantime - would about $2,750.

Property owners would also have to pay annual service charges, which are currently $901 for single-family dwelling units in that area, and they typically increase 4 percent to 5 percent each year, according to the Water Agency.

Joel Chandler, who’s rebuilding the Brighton Court home he and his wife lost in the Tubbs fire, said he plans to connect to sewer, noting that his septic tank’s leach field is 50 years old - long beyond its life expectancy.

“It’s kind of a no brainer,” Chandler said Friday. “The way they have it set up, you’d be crazy not to hook up to it.”

Originally, the Water Agency had suggested a version of the plan that would have required properties who keep their septic systems to connect to sewer when they’re sold. But the agency backed off that plan after objections from owners, so the program is now fully voluntary, and lots will not be required to connect.

The plan had encountered opposition from some owners, including over concerns it might allow larger homes than were in the neighborhood before, but it’s not clear how that issue will factor in Tuesday’s discussion.

One vocal critic, Michelle Gillies, told The Press Democrat her prior opposition was a fight she had “given up on at this point,” acknowledging she won’t be forced to do anything.

“People can go ahead and do what they want, but they’re not putting something on me,” Gillies said in a prior interview.

The sewer plan will be considered during supervisors’ afternoon session, which is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m.