The Murfreesboro Water Resources Board on Tuesday approved a request to allow outside‑city sewer service to an existing single‑family house located south of a barn proposed for annexation and redevelopment.

Matthew Blomley, assistant planning director for the city planning department, told the board the city’s “new ordinance” allows the board to approve outside‑the‑city sewer service “if it is for, a single existing structure.” He said the annexation and zoning applications before the planning commission would include the barn and area north of it but not the existing house, which would remain in the county because its only access is off Spike Trail.

The planning department materials included a letter from a soil scientist stating “there is no other suitable location for the septic system for the house to the south,” Blomley said. A contractor or developer associated with the Mazda project would extend a sewer main from a manhole at John Bryce Boulevard to serve the house, the repurposed barn and a stub to an adjacent eastern property. Board staff said installation of the line will be at the developer’s expense.

Anita, a technical staff member, described the route: “You’ll be extending a sewer main from a manhole at John Bryce Boulevard, extending it in [the] green line through the property. It will serve the Mazda place and the house to the south… and there will also be a stub over to the property to the east.”

Board members asked whether the adjacent eastern property would be connected now; staff said that home currently has a functioning septic system and thus was not requesting service at this time. Blomley said the annexation hearing for the barn and northern parcel is scheduled before the planning commission in August.

The board received a motion to approve the outside‑city sewer customer request, a second, and voted in favor. The motion carried.

Why it matters: the approval lets an existing residence retain sewer service without annexation while the neighboring parcel is redeveloped; staff said the extension is necessary because the proposed parking area would eliminate the existing septic drain field for both properties.

The board clarified that the house south of the barn will remain in county jurisdiction and that the sewer approval applies only to a single existing structure under the city ordinance. No annexation of that house was requested or approved at the meeting.