Falls takes control of projects' upkeep

Menomonee Falls - When developers build homes or businesses, it's usually up to them to bring the infrastructure needed to support that development. It saves the village money upfront, but saves the developers long-term maintenance costs.

On Monday, the Menomonee Falls Village Board approved a slew of agreements to take control of recently installed sewer, water, curb and gutter systems in areas where new projects have been completed.

At the Quail Haven subdivision, south of Silver Spring Drive, the village will now take over the maintenance and upkeep for all of the major systems in that subdivision even though village money didn't go to pay for the installation.

As part of development agreements, companies enter into a contract with the village to put these systems in place. When they're completed, the village approves the integration of those systems into the current ones.

The same thing happened with Cobalt Partners and its project to put the new We Energies service station on Lilly Road. The village now must maintain water and sewer for the property that Cobalt places there.

Falls also approved the waivers fro, residents affected by 2011 upkeep of sewer and water mains already in place. The village provides homeowners the chance to reconstruct driveway openings for a fee.

Director of Engineering Tom Hoffman said the village only offers these programs on roads where these projects are already taking place. Letters are sent to residents informing them of the chance to have the work done.

Homeowners then pay $600 to $700, depending on the driveway, to have the village complete the work.