Committee tables resolution to ban residential decentralized wastewater systems after extended public comment

The Rules & Legislative Committee voted to table a proposed resolution that would have prohibited residential decentralized wastewater systems — including septic tank effluent pumping (STEP) systems — countywide until Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) standards and monitoring were considered improved.

Commissioners and dozens of residents, builders and industry representatives spoke during a lengthy public‑comment period. Opponents of the prohibition argued a countywide ban would reduce property values and restrict development options. Chuck Craig, a District 1 resident, urged the committee to clarify whether the resolution would cover single homes that use a pump to move effluent uphill, saying, "I'd like to see wording in there that specifically says, this is not intended to regulate a single house that just so happens to have to pump the wastewater out of the septic tank, appeal to a normal drain field." Several residents said STEP systems can be managed successfully where there is a dedicated maintenance authority; others cited the TDEC study referenced in the resolution that reported about half of surveyed systems were defective.

Supporters of keeping options open cautioned against a blanket ban. Casey Kesselring, a District 1 resident who said he has experience operating a wastewater treatment plant, told the committee that state legislation (identified in public comment as Senate Bill 564 and House Bill 813) would require bonding and third‑party oversight for STEP systems and argued the TDEC review should prompt oversight rather than prohibition: "TDEC did not release that study with the intention of prompting, you know, counties to eliminate the use of step systems rather to draw attention to the need for more oversight and that's what the legislation will accomplish." Ashley Sugar, chief executive officer of the Middle Tennessee Association of Realtors, said Rutherford County’s Consolidated Utility District (CUD) has successfully managed STEP systems at scale and that CUD has offered to service Bedford County; she warned a ban could deter development and affect schools and other public projects that currently rely on decentralized systems.

Committee members discussed alternatives: referring standards to the Planning Commission for zoning‑level requirements, strengthening local reserve area or leach‑field application requirements beyond the current state minimums, and requiring bonding or third‑party maintenance arrangements for developer‑built systems. A motion to table the resolution with direction for the Planning and Zoning Department to review standards carried in committee. The motion to table, moved by Commissioner Vick, passed in committee; the transcript records the item as tabled and returned to committee for additional study and planning commission review.