At the PUC’s first meeting of 2014, Adam Harju (left) was reappointed to serve as the board’s vice chair and Karl Hansen will serve once again as chair of the Grand Marais Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
At the first meeting of the New Year, held January 8, 2014, Karl Hansen was reappointed as the chair and Adam Harju as vice chair for the Grand Marais Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
In his report to the commission, Grand Marais Water/Waste Water Superintendent Tom Nelson said he had looked at the preliminary plans for the proposed biomass heating system, and he had some concerns with where the heating plant’s in-ground pipes were going to be placed in relation to where the city’s water and sewer lines currently run.
“In some places it looks like they are almost straddling some of our water and sewer lines,” Nelson said.
The area Nelson was most worried about was on 4th Avenue near the courthouse and runs for about two blocks.
If the city experienced problems with lines in this area, Nelson said, “It would increase our cost to repair and replace those lines.”
“They shouldn’t be putting one utility on top of another utility,” said Electric Superintendent Mike Taylor.
“‘They’ is us,” said City Administrator Mike Roth.
If the city agrees to build the proposed biomass heating plant, which would be located in the Cedar Grove Business Park, it would fall under the jurisdiction of the Grand Marais PUC.
Roth also said that it was hard to tell just where the heating plant’s lines would run because of the small scale used for the drawings, and there might not be any issues at all.
Nelson asked if the city might dovetail some repairs or replacement on blocks where the heating lines will be installed. Roth said he didn’t think so because the trenching for the heating lines is narrow, but it is something they could ask the engineer.
City Council PUC representative Tim Kennedy thought all of the points brought up were good, and noted that now is the time for questions and answers before a final decision is made.
Roth noted that the plans were 85 percent in detail. “They still have some room to make some changes to them,” he said.
Roth said that Mark Spurr, an engineer with FVB Energy Inc. would try to meet with the PUC or speak with them via SKYPE at their next meeting to answer questions.
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