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Tennessee utility board orders mediation after developer denied sewer access by City of Memphis
Summary
A Shelby County developer told the Tennessee Board of Utility Regulation the City of Memphis is blocking a gravity sewer connection across his property. The board directed staff to arrange informal mediation between the developer and Memphis and set a deadline for talks.
The Tennessee Board of Utility Regulation on Thursday directed staff to arrange informal mediation after a Memphis-area developer, Joe Jarrett, asked the board to force the City of Memphis to allow sewer access to his commercial property.
Jarrett told the board his partners own 110 acres zoned for commercial development near Walnut Grove and Houston Levee and that a sewer easement and force mains cross the property. He said the city has denied a gravity connection even though nearby projects have been allowed to access the same Grays Creek sewer system. “It’s not fair,” Jarrett said, noting other nearby developments were granted access.
City attorney Cece Drayton and Scott Morgan, Memphis public works director, told the board Memphis has authority under state law to decide where it extends sewer service and that the property lies, in their view, primarily in the Marys Creek basin. Drayton said the city council in 2013 declined to construct the Marys Creek interceptor, and that the city is not required to extend sewer outside its boundaries. Morgan said the force mains in the area may be at capacity and that the city follows a basin-based policy for gravity sewer expansion.
Board staff asked whether the parties could meet to try to reach a negotiated solution. The board voted to direct staff to set up informal, in-person mediation between Jarrett (the complainant) and Memphis public-works staff, with a deadline of Aug. 29, 2025, for the parties to report back. The order requires the parties to try to resolve the dispute in good faith and allows staff to close the matter if the parties reach a local settlement; if mediation fails, the board said it may consider further action, up to issuing an order about extension of service.
Jarrett told the board he and his engineers have proposed gravity and pump-station options and said the development would bear the construction cost if a connector is required. Memphis officials said a viable option might be to reach a nearby 60-inch gravity interceptor at the west side of Grays Creek, but that would require a standard improvements contract and city-council approval.
The board emphasized the mediation is intended to give both sides a chance to explore technical and contractual solutions before the board considers a formal order.
