Welcome to Pike’s Bay Sanitary District!
The Pike’s Bay Sanitary District (PBSD) represents about 20% of the land area of Bayfield Township. The PBSD is governed by five Commissioners who are popularly elected and charged with governing on behalf of the Town residents who are included in the PBSD area (see map).
The PBSD provides facilities for the collection of sewerage for a part of the district by providing collection piping, manholes, and lift stations in the District. Not all of the area of the District is provided with service from PBSD.
The waste generated in the PBSD, and from the City of Bayfield, is piped to a state-of-the-art treatment facility (the Greater Bayfield Waste Water Treatment Plant or GBWWTP) located in the Township. The GBWWTP facility is owned and operated by the Greater Bayfield Waste Water Treatment Plant Commission. The GBWWTPC is comprised of three representatives from the PBSD (the PBSD Commissioners) and three representatives from the City of Bayfield. This relationship is defined and operated under the Intermunicipal Agreement between the City of Bayfield and PBSD.
History of PBSD
In the early 1970’s, a joint sanitary waste processing plant was created to serve the Pure Air Sanatorium and the real estate development at Port Superior Marina. The plant was owned by Ashland, Bayfield and Douglas Counties and administered by Bayfield County. The joint operation continued until the early 1980 when the sanatorium was put up for sale. At that point, Port Superior continued to operate the plant and appealed to the Town of Bayfield to create a municipal sanitary District. A new municipal sanitary district was established (Pike’s Bay Sanitary District) in 1980 and took over the operation of the existing facilities. Operations continued through the 1990’s with the existing plant easily handling the needs of Port Superior Marina, Pike’s Bay Marina, Brookside Cottages, Port Superior Condos, Waterford Condo Assn. Chequamegon Rd. residences and Wild Rice Restaurant.
In the early 2000’s, the City of Bayfield was exploring options for replacing their treatment plant in Bayfield, in order to comply with regulations. The City approached Red Cliff to build a cooperative facility and were rejected. They then reached out to PBSD for financial assistance. The PBSD Board and Town of Bayfield Board supported an effort to combine the treatment portion of their respective sewerage systems. This was done in spite of PBSD rate payer resistance. It was agreed that PBSD would be responsible for 18% of the construction costs of the Greater Bayfield Waste Water Treatment Plant (GBWWTP) based on a study conducted by Strand Engineering showing expansion in the PBSD significantly higher than the City. In order to finance the facility through a loan from Wisconsin Clean Water Fund, it was necessary to increase the taxable value of PBSD. It was understood that the taxable property in the District would pay for the new GBWWTP facility and it’s maintenance over the life of the plant. The District included areas which would not receive sewer services for 20 or more years, if at all. Since 2006 there have been two requests to the Town Board to expand the District. Both have been rejected including a request to include all of the Town of Bayfield.
The GBWWTP was completed in 2006. Since then a number of studies have been commissioned to explore areas that could be affordably served within the District and three projects executed. The “Trailer Court Road Expansion,” was completed in 2009, and included area residents, a campground operation, and a 24-unit mobile home park. The second expansion was acceptance by the PBSD of ownership of a private lateral running under the Brownstone Trail for ¼ mile south from the Seagull Inn. In 2015 the Trailer Court Road line was extended to serve parcels on Old Orchard Lane. More recent studies have included the “County Road J,” “Golf Course Area,” “Blue Wing Bay Area,” and “Hwy 13/Ski Hill Rd Extension”.