News

County to buy Etowah Sewer Co.

By Bill Moss, Published: July 16, 2024

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to purchase the Etowah Sewer Co., meaning it will take control of decisions on what users can connect to the treatment plant and as a result how much growth the community will see.

Established in 1988, the system has 400 customers and around 20 miles of collection lines. Originally, the main customers were Etowah Valley Golf & Resort and the Etowah Shopping Center.

"It was the main catalyst for the growth of the Etowah community," said Commissioner Bill Lapsley, a retired civil engineer who described himself as "the closest to an oracle on this topic."

Nine years ago, the sewer system owners notified Henderson County it wanted to sell the company for $1.2 million. The county said no because the asking price was too high. The city of Hendersonville announced in 2016 that it planned to buy the private sewer company. The sale fell through when the Board of Commissioners vetoed it, based on the 2001 Mud Creek agreement that governs how the city can provide sewer in rural areas. The proposed sale of the sewer company to a St. Louis-based company was ultimately rejected by the N.C. Utilities Commission. After that, the owners again approached the county with an offer to sale.

"This is a major shift in policy for the county to get back in the sewer business," Commissioner Michael Edney said. "This is sort of like a boat or an airplane — it's a big hole you fill. You're never gonna make money doing it but I think from a policy standpoint it's necessary to serve the Etowah community." He clarified that, "We don't have to give sewer to anybody that we don't want to."

"Very good," Commission Chair Rebecca McCall after the 5-0 vote to authorize the sale. "We're now in the sewer business."

EARLIER COVERAGE

The potential purchase of Etowah Sewer Co. by Henderson County would give the Board of Commissioners the authority to block a vigorously opposed high-density development at Etowah Valley Golf & Resort.

County commissioners during their regular mid-month meeting Wednesday are scheduled to take up the purchase of the private sewer company’s assets for $400,000, meaning control of the utility — and the power to permit or deny hookups — would rest with the elected Board of Commissioners.

“The short of it is, we’ve been negotiating with Etowah Sewer Co. for about six weeks and we have a contract to purchase on the agenda next Wednesday,” County Manager John Mitchell said last Friday afternoon. “There are no encumbrances to transfer with the property,” including “any allocations of sewer to developments.”

That’s crucial because plans by Tribute Companies, a Wilmington, N.C.-based commercial real estate developer, can’t go forward without sewer. Etowah Valley homeowners have aggressively fought Tribute’s plans for more than a year, when the developer first rolled out a proposal for a 343-unit RV park on part of the 27-hole golf course. The most recent plan, which won preliminary approval from the county planning board last October, called for 400 duplex units on 84 acres.

SUBHED

Development influenced primary voters

“I’m actually very excited that the elected body is going to be in charge of Etowah Sewer Co.,” Annette Huetter, a chief organizer of the Etowah Valley Preservation Society, said Friday. “We know we can vote those people in or out with regard to the sewer system.” During the drafting of the county’s new 2045 comprehensive plan, Huetter noted, commissioners said “they were not in favor of any high density development in Etowah.”

In the March 5 Republican primary voters turned out incumbents David Hill and Daniel Andreotta in favor of challengers Jay Egolf and Sheila Franklin, who campaigned aggressively for stronger protections against disruptive land uses and pledged to Etowah voters that they’d work to stop high-density development. Egolf has no opposition in the Nov. 5 general election; Franklin faces Democrat Erik Weber.

The sewer system “will become much more reliable,” Egolf said Friday. As for the purchase contract’s specific language barring agreements to serve prospective developments, “I agree that is how it should be written,” he said. “I just don’t think Etowah is the proper place for development of that type.”

It’s unclear when or if Tribute and the golf course’s current owners, WNC Resort Properties LLC, could formally dissolve the agreement for sale of the property. Neither Tim Rice, a WNC Resort owner, nor Tribute officials could be reached for comment.

SUBHED

Contract bars third-party agreements

The 12-page contract setting out terms of the sewer system sale requires the seller to affirm that it “does not have any outstanding contracts, agreements, or commitments of any kind, written or oral, with any third party regarding the assets.” The agreement also requires the private sewer company to submit the resignations of all employees of the company upon the sale’s closing and makes the sewer company responsible for the current payroll plus severance benefits, vacation days, sick days, personal days and other compensated time off.

Commissioner Bill Lapsley said that he “absolutely” favored the purchase and, further, confirmed that the move would empower the county to block any development commissioners opposed.

“The owners of the sewer system determine who connects to it,” he said. “It’s a very simple answer.”

Lapsley told homeowners at the end of a Planning Board review of Tribute’s subdivision application last October that he was inclined to favor lower density zoning at Etowah Valley.

“I have already discussed with my colleagues this situation and its reflection on our land development code,” he told the residents who packed Thomas Auditorium at BRCC. “I think you’ll be seeing some discussion at length amongst the commissioners about what we may do to revise our code not only in your area but across the county.”

He reiterated that on Monday.

 “We’ll be addressing the zoning density allowed in that area as we rewrite the land development code,” he said.

Homeowners applaud control by elected board

Huetter, who has worked days, nights and weekends along with other activist homeowners organizing the campaign against the duplex development, said she hopes to “take a breath” at some point. For now, she knows where she will be Wednesday morning. “I’m going, for sure” to the county commission meeting.

“We would love to see the community work with whoever owns the land, as a sounding board, to see if there’s a way to create a partnership,” she said.

In a newsletter on Monday, the Etowah Valley Preservation Society endorsed the proposed purchase of the Etowah sewer system.

“We support the sale of the ESC to Henderson County, making it a public utility controlled by officials we elect,” it said. “The alternative we faced this past winter was a utility owned by a large firm based in another state and controlled by the utilities commission in Raleigh. This experience showed us how little control or influence we have with private ownership of a utility.”

Egolf, who along with Sheila Franklin received strong support from two Etowah Valley precincts in the March 5 primary, said Etowah homeowners had shown that civic involvement works.

“If enough people are in agreement, lots of times you can still make a difference,” he said. “That’s the great thing about our political system. It’s a long battle, it’s uphill, it’s hard but it just shows you what you can accomplish. They say elections — what’s the word — elections have consequences.”

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