News

In 3-2 vote, county chooses sewer option connecting to city's treatment plant

By Bill Moss, Published: July 17, 2024

Henderson County commissioners voted 3-2 on Wednesday to pursue an Edneyville sewer project that would involve piping effluent to the city wastewater treatment plant on Mud Creek.

Consulting engineer Will Buie laid out the options for a less expensive project, made necessary because the county has now concluded that it cannot use $9.3 million in American Rescue Plan money for the sewer system. The question is where does the sewer discharge go. "Is it with our treatment plant or connected to Hendersonville?" Buie said. A 50,000 gallon/day treatment plant would cost $6.5 million. Other costs include design, easements and sewer lines. $10-25 a month. about $47 a month.

"This all comes down to who will connect to the system," Buie said. Edneyville Elementary School, Camp Judea and the Justice Academy are the only certain users, he added. The outside city rate for sewer is around $47 per household; if the county owned and maintained the collection system, it would likely need to add a monthly surchage of $10-25 a month.

Commissioners have been talking about Edneyville sewer since August 2017, County Manager John Mitchell. Engineers submitted a permit application in April 2022 and did not receive the permit until May of this year. With the clock running on a Dec. 31 deadline to obligate the grant money, "It became clear we were going to be constrained by the timing of ARPA," Mitchell said.

Chair Rebecca McCall endorsed the option of connecting to the city's wastewater treatment plant on Mud Creek, provided the city agreed not to require sewer customers to be annexed.

Commissioner David Hill opposed Commissioner Michael Edney's motion to connect the new sewer lines to the city's plant. The city's policy of requiring annexation in exchange for sewer service is "forced annexation," he said. "We're goIng to reward them with $15 to $20 million infrastructure."

"I agree with you. I don't like what they do," Edney responded. "But we don't need to punish the Edneyville community because of it."

"I think that this board is forced to focus on option 3," Commissioner Bill Lapsley said. "I'm very hesitant to endorse any of the alternatives under this option 3 beause of the city's actions in recent years in regard to satellite annexation far beyond the city limits. If this board connects to the city, I'm concerned that there may be a way that this can be circumvented."

"They've already put in writing that they would agree to no annexation in that area," McCall said.

The option commissioners endorsed would extend sewer to the Henderson Creek and Lewis Creek basins and serve Edneyville Elementary School, Camp Judea and the Justice Academy. Still to come would be negotiations with the city over the sewer rate and further clarification that the city would not annex any users of the Edneyville lines.

Commissioners McCall, Edney and Lapsley voted yes; Hill and Andreotta voted no.

The decision puts county commissioners and Hendersonville City Council on a path to negotiate the terms. During a special called meeting on July 11, City Manager John Connet responded to commissioners' questions about the city's willingness to cooperate in sewer service.

“I'll just refer to the Mud Creek agreement, which means if the county so desired we would have to take any flow that would be in the Mud Creek basin and that would include this area," he said. "We cannot refuse to take it. There is no restriction currently in that agreement, the way we read it. ... We have previously written a letter to Mr. Mitchell — although there’s been no formal votes —that basically said any connection to this line the city would not annex.”

“We have been very clear, while we do not want to annex Edneyville or Etowah or areas like that, we have been very clear that we would like some growth area close to the city” that could be served by sewer and annexed, he added when . “But as far as the far reaches of the county, we have no desire” to annex land.

Asked to define the growth area, Connet declined.

“I'm not gonna negotiate here at the podium," he said. "That would not be that would not be prudent. I think what the letter says along this line is we are prepared to stop at Wolfpen, at our ETJ around Wolfpen, and we would not annex any farther out.”

EARLIER COVERAGE:

The news last week that the county can’t spend federal rescue plan money on an Edneyville sewer plant by the Dec. 31 deadline has set in motion big changes on two fronts.

Commissioners this week are expected to choose an option for a major downsizing of the Clear Creek sewer plant project — if they don’t scrap the job altogether. And they may vote to shift $9.3 million in American Rescue Plan money to a new sportsplex.

The changes have been dramatic and fast-moving.

The revelation that the county would be unable to award a contract to construct the Clear Creek plant and install miles of sewer lines by the deadline came during a special called meeting Thursday. Consulting engineer Will Buie, on hand to explain the sewer plant options, delivered the news: The total budget the county had to fund the project had dropped by $9 million.

“The reason we can’t use it is we’ve run out of time,” Lapsley said. “It’s a big project and it’ll take the engineers probably a year to get it designed and permitted.”

The county’s pitch for a work-around didn’t fly.

“We thought that perhaps by awarding a construction-manager-at-risk contract that would meet the definition of awarding a contract,” Lapsley said. “We checked that out and the federal government said no.”

‘Two consequential decisions’

That deadline of midnight Dec. 31 to obligate ARP money has placed new urgency on a Plan B. There are signs that a sportsplex at Berkeley Mills Park may be the alternative.

“The story that follows is what is to be done with that $9 million,” County Manager John Mitchell said Friday. “There are two consequential decisions to be made on Wednesday: Clear Creek and the allocation of the remainder of that $9 million.” (Counting $2 million commissioners previously appropriated for a sportsplex, the county has $11.3 million available.)

The School Board acquired 16 acres at Berkeley Park when it dealt Edwards Park to the city of Hendersonville in a property swap. Asked whether Berkeley would be on commissioners’ docket Wednesday, Mitchell acknowledged that it likely would.

“The Board of Commissioners has been speaking with the School Board about Berkeley sports fields for two years,” he said. “I don’t think any options for sports fields locations are off the table.”

Asked whether it would be possible to acquire land and award a contract for a sports complex in the next five months, Lapsley, a retired civil engineer, said: “That’s a fair question. Very difficult.”

He pointed out that the county also owns Jackson Park, too, which could be an option for ballfields. Whatever the vision — youth soccer fields, pickleball courts, tennis courts, softball diamonds — awarding a construction contract by the Dec. 31 ARP deadline should be doable, Lapsley said.

“Because designing and permitting (sports fields) is not rocket science,” he said. “From an engineering standpoint, that can be designed and a contract awarded. … I anticipate that the board is going to take action on the sewer project — and whatever option we go with, that will officially delete the $9.3 million from the sewer plant — and later in the agenda we’ll talk about where to spend that.”

School Board Chair Jay Egolf welcomed the idea of turning parkland into athletic facilities both for the public and the school system.

“The county has an interest in the development of Berkeley and we have an interest in joining a partnership with the county,” he said Friday afternoon. “We also wanted some improvements for our children, the students of Henderson County, and I think that would be a great thing for both the people of Henderson County and the students in the Henderson County public school system. It would be a benefit for both.”

The School Board would like to see six tennis courts for prep athletes and a softball field for women’s teams, Egolf said. That would leave enough acreage for three full-size soccer fields — four “if you rearrange the road,” he said. “And this could all be done with ARPA money.”