Issues arise with C-Bar water testing

Pine Haven is experiencing issues with the water lines feeding the in-development C-Bar Estates. Recently, the lines were reported to the town as safe to be tested and opened and Mayor Karla Brandenburg advised Public Works Director Sean Glasser to open the pipe that would not dump into the main water line.

Duaine Fawcett of Water Guy LLC, who is Pine Haven’s licensed water system authority was then contacted and visited the site a couple days later to test water quality, pressure, etc.

The mayor reported to her fellow council members at Friday’s workshop, “The lines hadn’t been pressure tested. C-Bar’s construction company has to pressure test those lines before we turn it on and especially into the whole system so we don’t have any breaks. He’s afraid that if we open it up into the main line with that much more pressure, something might happen. We don’t want water through there until it’s been pressure tested.”

The water was shut off until the construction company pressurized the local lines.

As the liaison between the council and C-Bar, Brandenburg explained that completing the requisite tests is an issue the town is facing with the subdivision developers Freedom Holdings and this latest failed start with the waterline is significant, it is vital to the town’s fire suppression system, “The fire department needs to get that open so that we can get all of our fire hydrants working.”

Freedom Holdings’ Greg Cottrell attended the last construction progress meeting and attempted pressuring the mayor, repeatedly requesting a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO), allowing the owners to market the lots before the site has received final approval. These TCOs are usually good for 90 days and are for specific work that needs completion.

“We made it pretty clear to them that we will not do that,” Brandenburg said later.

“The only thing that we would be willing to give them a TCO on would be the cement pads coming out on the highway because the ground is too cold right now to put that down and the seeding of the ditches. Those two things don’t make sense to do right now so those are the only two things they don’t have to have done to get a TCO.”