Utility Infrastructure Planning

Last week in this space we discussed the steps the City has taken to prepare for growth in the substantial revision of the Comprehensive Plan and the Land Development Code, as well as an updating of the City’s impact fees. This week we will explore another important aspect of preparing for growth: the planning and construction of new water and sewer infrastructure.

A new system to ensure the proper planning for water and sewer facilities has been put in place by the City Commission. The new system has the following features:

1. Developments that wish to utilize City water and sewer facilities must now be annexed into the City. This is a change from the past, where developers outside the City were allowed to use these facilities and agree to annex at a later date;


2. The system requires developers who will need City water and sewer service for their future development to sign an agreement and get in the “queue” (that is, to “line up”) for future service. It costs 10% of the water and sewer impact fees to get in line;


3. Once in line, City staff will periodically check to see how many developers are ready to go to the next step, which involves signing a “Utility Service Agreement”. This agreement locks a developer in to making a series of payments of utility impact fees to construct the new facilities that will be needed for development.

At present there are 13 developments in the queue – some of whom were automatically entered as they were already in some stage of the development process when the system was adopted; others have paid the now required 10% fee.

New water and sewer facilities to serve growth are already in various stages of developments. These projects include:

• A new water plant will soon be finished at the airport. Initially it will be used for the new fire hydrants at the airport (the first time the airport has had fire hydrants) and will be converted to a potable (drinking water) well to serve the west SR 60 area;


• A new elevated water tank is being designed for construction in the area of Scenic Highway and Hunt Brothers Road;


• A new sewer force main will serve the Buck More Road area, and developments south of SR 60 from the Hunt Brothers Road area to US 27. The City Commission has hired the contractor and this project will begin in the near future;


• A phased expansion of the sewer treatment plant and operational improvements have been engineered and the plans have recently been submitted for state agency approval;


• The City is changing how it disposes of the water that has been treated at the sewer plant. Rather than all of the water going into the Rapid Infiltration Basins near the Scenic Highway between Lake Belle and Hunt Brothers Road, the City is beginning to use some of it for irrigation in the Longleaf Business Park, the new soccer/multi-purpose field complex on Hunt Brothers Road, and soon in the city cemetery. There are also plans to serve the Whispering Ridge and Mayfair subdivisions.

Preparing for growth is a multi-faceted process, and the City is successfully moving forward to encourage quality growth and the facilities needed to serve it!