The Statesboro city staff’s proposal for an updated policy on residential sewer lateral repairs would keep owners of single-family homes responsible for replacing collapsed lateral pipelines but have the city cover the cost of repairing any street or sidewalk on top.

Two sentences in the proposed amendment to the city’s Sewer Lateral Replacement Assistance Program ordinance show how it would simplify the division of costs between homeowners and the city, no longer requiring a formula.

“The city will pay the cost of excavating and replacing impacted public improved surfaces” (in other words) “road, curb and gutter, sidewalk, etc.,” the key passage states. “It will be the responsibility of the property owner to cover all other costs associated with the sewer lateral repair.”

But this will still occur only in the context of an assistance program requiring that an application is filed and other conditions are met.

Presented by Public Utilities Director Matt Aycock to the mayor and council during their June 16 afternoon work session, the proposed ordinance amendment hasn’t been enacted yet. But it is slated for a formal first reading by the council during the 9 a.m. July 7 meeting.

Sewer mains are the larger diameter pipelines, owned by the city, often extending along a street, parallel to or underneath it. Laterals are the usually smaller lines that connect to a home, business or other sewer user, beginning under a private lot and extending under the city right of way to the main.

“The owner of the property or properties serviced shall be responsible for any portion of the private sewer lateral extending from a building to the public sewer main …,” states a current, long-established Statesboro city law. By further making private property owners responsible for “repairs, replacements and maintenance” this basic ordinance has required homeowners to negotiate with contractors and pay for repairs, including filling trenches cut through sidewalks and streets and patching the city’s pavement.

Original program helped only six

In November 2023, City Council enacted its first Sewer Lateral Assistance Program, which has offered help only to owners of owner-occupied homes when they meet certain requirements.

But by providing for city assistance with costs of the sewer lateral pipeline itself “per foot of depth in excess of 6-foot depth to be verified by city staff at a specified amount per linear foot of sewer lateral pipe as established in the schedule of fees and charges,” the old wording has required the use of a formula and measurements.

“While very helpful to owner-occupied single-family residential homes, the Sewer Lateral Assistance program has only assisted six homeowners with a total of $23,000 paid over the last 3 years,” Aycock stated with the June 16 slideshow. “Most property owners do not qualify for assistance.”

Orangeburg, etc.

One factor that has brought the matter to public attention more than once in the past decade is an increasing number of collapses of “Orangeburg pipe,” which was used for residential sewer laterals, mainly for homes built in the 1960s and 1970s. Named for a factory in Orangeburg, New York, this pipe was made from wood pulp and coal tar or petroleum pitch.

“I’ve heard it described as wood fiber and hot tar,” Aycock said in a March interview.

Orangeburg pipe can look like a roll of old tarpaper when it’s dug up out of the clay, but it has often lasted 50 or 60 years. Even iron sewer pipes, especially when cracked and infiltrated by tree roots, can give way with the passage of time.

Orangeburg sewer laterals, and the city’s policies, cycled back into public awareness earlier this year when Margot Bragg reported the situation with a home she owns but does not live in at Fletcher Drive and Ladd Circle. She had already replaced the failed lateral pipe across the yard. But after a subsequent sewer backup, Bragg sought contractor estimates for the replacement of the last segment, reaching underneath the city street to the main.

After a first estimate of $13,015 for the eight- to 10-foot-deep repair, replacing the collapsed Orangeburg with PVC and patching the pavement, she found another contractor who did it for significantly less, she said. But Bragg also noted that several other homes in the neighborhood had the problem or had seen the beginnings of it.

Up to $17,000 ‘plus’

City staff members have now determined a price range for the typical cost of such repairs.

“Rising contractor costs have made replacement unaffordable for property owners even when they qualify for assistance,” Aycock reported in the slideshow. “Depending on the amount of pavement that has to be cut and the depth of the sewer main, these costs can range from $7,000 to $17,000+.”

But the city staff, he reported, had also researched policies or practices of other Georgia cities, including Savannah, Valdosta, Canton, Griffin, Richmond Hill, Dublin, Perry, Thomasville, Dalton, Fayetteville, Winder, Cartersville; and the counties of Cherokee, Coweta, Forsyth, Bartow and Henry. The Georgia Association of Water Professionals had assisted with a member survey.

“Our research indicated that most cities do not have an established assistance program to help property owners manage these maintenance costs,” Statesboro city staff stated with the slideshow.

Removes ‘owner-occupied’ rule

Now, the staff is proposing a simplified assistance program for owners of single-family homes, whether or not they are owner-occupied homesteads. Bragg had noted that the program as established in 2023 was never going to assist someone like her, who owns a house that she is keeping in her family but renting out.

City officials have commented that this is a common situation in Statesboro, where there are many “heir properties” and renters outnumber homeowners.

Where the original Lateral Replacement Assistance Program ordinance required that an eligible applicant “be the owner and occupant of a single-family residential home” within the city limits, the proposed amendment strikes through “and occupant.” So, if the amendment is adopted, assistance will be available to owners of single-family homes that are rented out or vacant, but they will still have to show proof of ownership.

Eligible applicants for assistance would still need to show that any city utility bills, city taxes, business license fees or other bills they may owe the city are paid in full.

A property owner will still need to have a licensed plumbing contractor or utility contractor video-inspect their sewer lateral and submit the video when applying for assistance. But under the proposed new rules, the property owner will no longer need to submit three quotes from licensed plumbing contractors. The old rules also limited city assistance to the lowest quoted price.

“Most plumbers don’t know how to do excavation and road work, and so we have put in ‘licensed utility contractor,’” said Aycock, also hinting at another reason for the city to control the street repair portion of the process.

City Manager Charles Penny had noted that “dips” can occur in streets where the refilled trenches and pavement cuts aren’t properly refilled and covered.

According to the draft of the amendment displayed June 16, applicants for assistance will still need to contact their insurance company to determine if their homeowner’s insurance would cover any part of the sewer lateral repair.

More limited remedy

This proposed remedy does not sound as sweeping as the intent of city officials back in April, when Penny suggested that the city government take responsibility for lateral line repairs where they enter city right of way, while continuing to hold property owners responsible for repairing laterals under their own land.

The mayor and council members agreed then, but staff members afterward raised concerns.

“After we had that council meeting, my staff came back and they were all panicking. …,” Penny said during the June 16 session. “Our real concern is us being responsible for that sewer lateral, and all of a sudden somebody has something bad (happen), a bad backup, and that lateral really is private property, and it ties into our main that we’re responsible for, and that was the real rub.”

As had been mentioned, a sewage backup from a collapsed lateral can cause damage inside a home.

“We didn’t want someone now blaming the city,” he said. “You know, everybody thinks we have deep pockets.”

So, the current proposal would have the city cover costs for excavations and surface repairs in certain cases involving single-family homes, but not assume any responsibility for privately installed sewer laterals. Apartment complexes would still not be eligible.

Also, the city still will not “go back and make anything retroactive” to compensate Bragg or any other homeowner for repairs they already paid for, Penny said.