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Sunbury City outlines phased Little Walnut Creek sewer plan; developer to fund temporary pump station
Summary
City Engineer Carla Sodebrasky told the Sunbury City services committee Aug. 6 that Little Walnut Creek Phase 2 construction could begin as early as July 2026, and that a developer will pay roughly $400,000 to upgrade a temporary pump station that later will be taken offline when the interceptor is completed.
Sunbury City Engineer Carla Sodebrasky told the Sunbury City services committee on Aug. 6 that the Little Walnut Creek interceptor project will be built in phases, with a small Phase 2a potentially under construction as early as July 2026 and larger Phase 2/3 work extending later into the decade.
The update matters because the interceptor will expand sanitary sewer capacity north of existing development and shape where future development can connect to municipal sewer. Sodebrasky said the schedule and right-of-way needs will determine when neighborhoods can be served.
Sodebrasky, presenting maps and a timeline, said Phase 2a is a short section of sanitary sewer intended to tie Little Walnut Phase 1 to a point north of a planned roundabout and could be “done in the first six months” of construction once work begins. She said, “we should be able to get this under construction as early as July 2026.”
Phase 2 (shown in red on the committee map) will run north to approximately where Sunbury Parkway is planned; Phase 3 would continue north past State Route 37 toward the St. John Newman Catholic Church area. Sodebrasky said the design contract for Phase 3 has just started and that right-of-way acquisitions for each phase typically take about a year.
The committee discussed a nearby pump station that will be upgraded to serve a current developer buildout. Sodebrasky said the developer is paying for the upgrade—“approximately $400,000 so that they will have service waiting for phase 2 to be completed”—and confirmed the upgrade is temporary. When the interceptor is completed and the new sewer alignment is available, she said, “the entire pump station” would be abandoned because flows will be able to tie directly into the new interceptor.
She provided technical details for planners: the interceptor is expected to be a 36-inch pipe, roughly 30 feet deep in places, and designers are trying to keep the sewer alignment far enough from Cheshire Road to avoid full road closures during construction. Sodebrasky also noted some alignment options cross private property and will require negotiated utility easements with property owners.
Sodebrasky said Sunbury has an existing agreement with Delaware County Sewer District to serve areas west of Galena Road; to the east is Sunbury’s wastewater treatment plant. Committee members emphasized that the maps show tributary areas and flow direction, not annexation commitments. As Sodebrasky put it, the map “represents the tributary area” and “doesn’t say anything more than that.”
The committee did not take any formal action on the interceptor at the Aug. 6 meeting; members directed staff to continue design, right-of-way negotiations and coordination with county and road projects. Sodebrasky said some acceleration would be possible if developer demand and right-of-way acquisitions align sooner than the current schedule allows.
City staff and the design consultant VerDantes were listed as lead contacts on the plans; Sodebrasky said any developer-driven acceleration would change the timing but that the project remains contingent on completing design, easements and coordination with road work.
Committee members asked for ongoing updates on timelines and right-of-way progress as design advances.
