Old Lyme — A shared plan to bring sewers to several beach communities here will be going back out to bid in multiple parts after the original, lump-sum bid process proved too unwieldy for contractors.

The project being put out to bid is part of a cost-sharing agreement between three private beach associations and the town's Sound View neighborhood. The plan will allow the Water Pollution Control Authority's future ratepayers to share a pump station — to be located in the Sound View neighborhood — as well as a force main pipe, enabling all four entities to send their combined sewage through East Lyme to New London for treatment.

Old Lyme Shores Beach Association President Matt Merritt on Friday described the original bid request as "just too big" for most of the responding companies to handle. The process involved the single-prime model, which allows general contractors to bid on the whole project and then subcontract individual parts.

"By splitting it into three different projects, we're hoping to get in more bids and more favorable prices," Merritt.

The original bid proposal, opened on May 19, detailed the scope of work necessary to provide the framework for sewers in the neighborhoods of Sound View Beach, Old Colony Beach, Miami Beach and Old Lyme Shores Beach. Merritt said that only two of the nine contractors who initially expressed interest in the project ended up submitting bids.

Documents show bids from Ludlow Construction and Baltazar Contractors Inc., both out of Ludlow, Mass., came in at more than twice the engineering estimates. Baltazar bid $17.51 million, while Ludlow bid $18.42 million.

The project engineers are Fuss & O'Neill of Manchester.

Contractors who declined to bid told engineers the proposal was outside their bonding capabilities, Merritt said. They also voiced concerns about the volatile market for construction materials that left them leery of committing to a project when they can't predict how much it will end up costing.

Merritt said the revised bid proposals, expected to be opened on Aug. 1, is divided into three parts: the trunk line that runs close to water and to homes, the pump station and the force main that goes from Old Lyme to East Lyme.

Old Lyme WPCA Chairman Rich Prendergast told the Board of Selectmen this week that splitting up the proposal will enable a wider variety of contractors to respond.

"For example, putting pipes in the ground is not too difficult as far as these things go. Building a pump house is more difficult, so they separate those two things," he said.

Frank Noe, chairman of the Old Colony Beach Association Water Pollution Control Authority, said Friday that the response time will be extended from 30 days during the initial bidding process to 45 to 60 days this time.

He said the Old Colony WPCA thinks that with the new bid parameters and timeline, the resulting pricing "should be where it needs to be."

Merritt said the hope is to go to bid on August 1 with a deadline in mid to late September and the bid being awarded shortly thereafter. He said it could be "toward the end of the year" before work commences. But he cautioned there are more factors to consider than just the infrastructure shared by the four beach neighborhoods.

The three beach associations — all of which are chartered beach neighborhoods and are considered separate municipalities from the town — have been planning their own sewer project for years after the state mandated upgrades to resolve groundwater pollution.

A townwide referendum in 2019 approved a plan to bring sewers to the Sound View area after the town was put under an administrative order from the state to find a solution to groundwater pollution. Sound View ratepayers will be on the hook to pay off that project in the future, though some of the project will be paid through state Clean Water Fund grants.

Merritt said if current bids for the force main in the joint venture are indicative of how much the beach associations will have to pay for non-shared portions of the project, then it could end up being cost prohibitive for the individual communities.

"If our own project comes back too high, then why put the forced main in the first place," he said.

Merritt said he will not go back to his beach association asking them to agree to spend any more money on the project. The residents in 2012 approved a maximum cost of $50,000 per residential unit.

According to minutes from the Old Lyme Shores Beach Association spring meeting earlier this month, the maximum bonding amount approved by residents is $9.8 million.

"These costs have gotten way out of control. And they're going to impact everybody on different levels," Merritt said.

Merritt was hopeful the project could get some support from the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion federal plan funneling $2.6 billion to municipalities in Connecticut. The Covid relief funds can be used in areas including infrastructure, assistance to small businesses harmed by the pandemic, tourism, job training and assistance to low-income families.

According to data compiled by the Connecticut Conference for Municipalities, Old Lyme is set to receive $2.16 million through the federal program. Half will arrive this year and half will be deposited next year.

Prendergast, when speaking to the selectmen at Monday's meeting, said he recognizes it's up to the town to decide how to allocate the COVID relief funds.

"The money will come to the town and the town will decide. It's not like the WPCA can apply directly," he said.

First Selectman Tim Griswold could not be reached for comment on how the town might prioritize sewers in terms of eligible relief projects.

Meanwhile, Merritt said there's no more work for the beach associations to do until the bids come back.

While the town is still working on agreements with East Lyme and New London to send and treat sewage there, the beach communities have already inked their own deals with the municipalities.

"We're all collectively holding our breath for a positive outcome in September," Merritt said.