East Broad Way Sidewalk Design

The Town has been awarded $80,000 through a grant from the Community Development Block Grant program in Loudoun County with a Town match of $20,000. The project will involve the design of a sidewalk on the north side of Broad Way from Park Place to the Lovettsville Community Center. The design will follow the Master Streetscape Plan and is expected to include road improvements and the drainage work necessary to properly construct a sidewalk. In December, the Town selected PHR+A to complete the design. The surveying has been completed. The Town has met with VDOT three times to discuss the options for waiving lane width and parking lane widths so that the roadway will better fit within the existing right of way. New traffic counts were obtained in October, 2009 with help from the County showing that total trips are much lower than VDOT studies indicated. This will help in discussions with VDOT to obtain agreement for narrower travel lanes. The Town applied for approximately $500,000 in additional funding from Loudoun County Gas Tax Revenue to complete the first phase of construction from Park Place to the Community Center but was not granted the funding at this time. The Town Council has directed the engineer to complete detailed design for the street cross section that has been negotiated with VDOT. This will provide curb and gutter for both sides of the street, sidewalk on the north side and a parking lane where possible. It appears that at least some of the utility poles will have to be relocated however plans to bury the utilities are not part of this initial project as the funding required adds dramatically to the total cost of the project. The next step is for the engineer to complete the design work and report to Town Council. Property owners that are affected by the design will be contacted once Town Council has viewed and agreed to the design.

VDOT awarded Highway Enhancement Grant Funds to the Town to develop a Pedestrian/Bike Path along 287 through the Town of Lovettsville. Loudoun County Gas Tax money has also been appropriated for this project. The Town negotiated an agreement with VDOT authorizing them to administer the design and construction of the project, which was signed in March, 2009. VDOT completed the surveying for the project over the summer or 2009 and finalized a design scope and contract with their on call engineer, RKK in December, 2010. The kickoff meeting is expected to occur this spring. The Town applied to VDOT Enhancement Funding for additional funding to complete the first phase of construction from the Town Center to the Southern edge to tie into the path completed by the Heritage Highlands Development Project.

Germanna Drive was built by a developer in the late 1990's but the street was never accepted into the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Maintenance system. A walk through of the roadway with VDOT personnel identified a need to correct the failing asphalt as well as broken concrete on the roadway. The Town hired Patton Harris Rust and Associates to core the roadway in order to determine what will need to be done to the roadway to meet VDOT standards. Testing was completed in early January, 2009 and the report outlining the results and Town Council approved recommendations to repair concrete sidewalk, curb and gutter and aprons and mill and overlay the roadway in preparation for VDOT acceptance. The improvements project was awarded to Amercian Contractors in October, 2009. The project began on March 22, 2010 and was substantially complete April 22. The Town will now apply for VDOT acceptance of Germanna Drive.

Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion

The Town is expanding the WWTP built in 2000 from 250,000 gallons per day (GPD) to 375,000 GPD. This involves the installation of a 3rd treatment module. The Facility will also receive new filters that will improve the removal of nitrogen and phosphorous to meet limits set by the State of Virginia to help protect and improve the water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. The construction began in June, 2008 and is expected to be completed in the summer of 2009.

The first activity was to install the circular tank for the 3rd treatment unit. This involved blasting through underground rock to excavate for the 20 foot deep tank. The tank was installed with the help of a crane using precast pieces poured at the factory and brought in on trucks. Click here to see photos of the tank installation.

Work this winter ocurred between the ice/sleet events and the really cold weather and involved installation of pump stations, valve vaults and all the concrete pads for the equipment needed to operate the facility. This Spring efforts will shift to installing the equipment. March involved bringing the large eqiupment to the site and setting it on the pads. Click here to see photos of the Filters being installed.

The Plant construction was completed this summer and power was delivered to the new plant in December, 2009. Start up for the equipment occurred in March, 2010 and complete start up of the plant operations will commence once the engineer has declared substantial completion and obtained the Certificate to Operate from DEQ.

Inflow and Infiltration

The Town's Wastewater Treatment Plan has been experiencing very high flows during heavy rains. This is due to rain water and ground water that enters the wastewater collection system through openings in the collection pipes and manholes. During heavy rains, the Town can experience an increase in flow beyond the treatment abilities of the facility. In June, 2008, the Town completed rehabilitation of 25 manholes in the system and also made leak repairs to the Frye Court Pump Station. In addition, the Town recently procured Olver, Incorporated to complete the study work started by Royer Malcolm Pirnie and develop an I&I Corrective Action Plan as required by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The I&I Corrective Action Plan was presented to Town Council in March, 2009, approved and forwarded to DEQ for their review and approval. The Phase I work will be funded through a Loan through the State and is expected to cost approximately $500,000. DEQ approved the Action Plan and three contracts have been awarded to complete Phase I of the Action Plan. Phase I involves lining 3,020 feet of sewer line, rehabilitation of approximately 300 manholes and replacement of 11 manholes. The contractors, Pleasants Construction, D&S Contractors and Heritage Site Development. The work began during the very cold weather in January and was completed in April. Some restoration work is all that is left to complete Phase I work. 

The Town will continue to monitor flow levels during rainfall events and after a year of data collection will provide a report to DEQ outlining the effectiveness of Phase I work. Phase II will only be initiated if the Phase I work does not satisfactorily reduce the rainfall flows. Initial impressions from the operators is that the Phase I work has resulted in marked improvements. It is felt that the intensity and duration of the flow events has both been reduced. Monitoring through a full year will provide better empirical data.

Click here to see pictures of I&I Rehabilitation Sewer Lining work.

Water Tank Maintenance

Following the recommendations of an inspection conducted on the elevated tank in 2006, the Town hired KCI to complete a structural analysis of the tank and provide the support necessary to paint the tank. The analysis was completed in the fall of 2008 and recommends relocation and/or reattachment of some of the cellular antennas and cables attached to the tank to address structural concerns and permit proper painting of the tank. The Town is in discussions with the antenna carriers utilizing tank space to facilitate the design and reattachment of the antennas and cables prior to tank painting.

 Water Meter Relocation

The Town has begun a new project to relocate meters from the basements of homes in several subdivisions in town. In some cases, the meter reading mechanism has malfunctioned and the Town is not able to obtain accurate meter readings without accessing the meters in the basements. Moving the meters to the yard in front of the home will facilitate access to the meter for repairs and reading. 8 neters were relocated this year and more are hoped to be completed next fiscal year.

Town Square and Town Park Concept Plan

The Town Square and Town Park Concept Plans are done and were approved by Town Council in February, 2009!    The Concept Plans provide a framework for the development of the parks. The Town will be working to begin development of both parks. The Town has installed power supply near the future location of the bandstand in the Town Park which is currently used for the Town Movie Nights. The Town has also installed conduit around the edge of the park for future power to future facilities planned for the park. The conduit was best installed now as the tree root systems would not be affected. The new property/right of way alignment created by the Town Square has not yet been recorded. Most projects anticipated for the Town Square will wait until final recordation and deed to the Town is completed.

Click here to see the approved Town Square Concept Plan

Click here to view the approved Town Park Concept Plan

Master Streetscape Plan for East Broad Way and South Loudoun Street

Town Council endorsed the Streetscape Master Plan for East Broad Way and South Loudoun Street at their reconvened Town Council meeting on March 19, 2009.The Town began developing a Master Streetscape Plan for South Loudoun Street and East Broad Way in March, 2008. A Public Input Session was held in April, 2008 followed by a Public Information Session in September. The Plan was modified based on the feedback from those session as well as direction from Town Council and Planning Commission.