A major milestone on the long journey toward a Snowshoe-area wastewater treatment system was passed on January 23, when legal counsel for the Pocahontas Public Service District (PSD) issued a preliminary title opinion, certifying that 80 percent of the necessary property rights have been obtained for the project.
Reaching the 80 percent threshold allows the PSD to proceed with the bid solicitation and advertising process to hire construction contractors.
John F. McCuskey, senior partner with Charleston law firm Shuman, McCuskey & Slicer, issued the opinion to the Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Water Development Authority, three agencies involved in funding and oversight of the project.
McCuskey’s opinion indicates that 15 easements have yet to be acquired from 13 property owners.
“Of these, the District has pending eight condemnation actions,” the opinion reads. “The remaining property owners have agreed to sign.”
The total cost of the project is expected to be $27 million. The service area will include Snowshoe and Silver Creek resorts; one mile north along Route 219 from the Route 66 intersection; and 2.7 miles south along Route 66 from the Route 219 intersection. A wastewater treatment plant will be built on Snowshoe Drive one mile north of Linwood. The collection system will include approximately 55,000 linear feet of underground gravity sewer and pressure sewage force main and eight pump stations.
PSD board member David Litsey expressed hope that local contractors will get work on the project.
“It would be nice to keep some of this $27 million here instead of sending it all back to Charleston,” Litsey wrote in an email.