Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure Sewer Capacity topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Hall County approves 2-year reservation of sewer capacity for 35 homes in Sterling On The Lake
Summary
The commission consented to an agreement reserving sewer capacity for 35 additional homes in the Sterling On The Lake subdivision and discussed reservation length, payment timing and county capacity totals.
The Hall County Board of Commissioners on April 7 approved by consent an agreement reserving sewer service capacity for 35 additional homes in the Sterling On The Lake community.
The agreement between Hall County and NMP Looper Lake LLC sets aside sewage capacity of 200 gallons per day (gpd) per unit for the 35 homes and requires the developer to cover up to $15,000 for inspections and possible repairs to existing sewer lines in the subdivision’s Pod Z. Commissioners spent substantial time asking staff about how sewer capacity reservations work and how long the county holds reserved capacity.
Public works staff member Bill Nash said the reservation agreement would be good for up to two years and that an availability letter from the county — which shows current sewer availability — does not itself reserve capacity. “When they apply, when they make the payment, that’s when you’ve officially paid for your capacity,” Nash said. He also explained availability letters are valid for one year and that a formal reservation is recorded only when fees are paid and deposited.
Commissioners pressed staff for further accounting of reserved but unused capacity and for the county’s remaining treatment capacity. Nash gave a series of capacity figures during the discussion: he said the county’s total system capacity is 1,850,000 (units not specified in the transcript), that Spout Springs Treatment Plant currently has about 450,000 gpd used out of 750,000 gpd and is being expanded to about 1,600,000 gpd by next year, and that the county has roughly 1,000,000 gallons of reserve capacity with the City of Gainesville, of which about 200,000 gpd is being used. The transcript includes these numbers as staff statements; the county or staff should be asked for a document that reconciles those figures for precise budgeting or planning use.
Commissioners also discussed the policy question of whether the county should require developers to prepay capacity fees to hold reservations. Nash described trade-offs: prepaid capacity would lock in gallons per day for the purchaser but could limit future rezoning or approvals if reserved capacity is not available for other projects.
Outcome and follow up: The commission approved the reservation agreement by consent and directed staff to report back with additional details on allocations and unused capacity when requested by commissioners.
Ending: The item passed as a consent action; commissioners asked staff to return with clearer accounting of allocated, reserved and available sewer capacity and any fiscal implications for system expansion.
