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Board weighs requests to draw from a new 100,000-gpd sewer reserve; staff and applicants disagree on projected flows
Summary
Spring Hill staff outlined a 100,000-gpd sewer capacity reserve and asked the board whether to consider allocations for Vanderbilt Ingram lab space and tenant improvements at 5221 Port Royal Road; applicant engineers and city staff provided divergent flow estimates and the board asked applicants to appear for additional vetting.
Spring Hill elected officials on Jan. 5 examined two early requests to draw from a newly established 100,000-gallons-per-day sewer capacity reserve while a temporary permit pause remains in effect.
Miss Sanders in Development Services told the board that the reserve exists to provide a discretionary pool of capacity for eligible nonresidential tenant improvements and that staff will only bring requests forward after vetting. The board heard one request related to laboratory renovations for Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center and a second for two tenant build-outs at 5221 Port Royal Road, including an endodontics practice.
Hamilton Brooks, representing the Port Royal applicant and the endodontist, said the project’s engineer estimated maximum usage at 82 gpd for the endodontics tenant and provided fixture-by-fixture modeling. City staff, however, reported a different, higher calculation in the board memo — roughly 522 gpd — and asked the applicant’s engineer to coordinate with staff to reconcile the discrepancy.
“Those numbers that were just referenced…do not align with the city's standard calculation,” Miss Sanders told the board and asked the applicant’s engineer to contact staff to vet the calculations. Mr. Allen (city engineering) agreed staff would work with applicant engineers to reach an accurate number.
Board members emphasized several policy points: preserve the reserve as a limited resource; prioritize local businesses and projects that demonstrably benefit the Spring Hill community; and insist applicants be present for final consideration. Mayor and other members asked staff to return with a table tracking allocations against the 100,000-gpd reserve so the board can see remaining capacity before future votes.
No final allocation was approved for either project at the Jan. 5 work session; the board directed staff to request applicant engineers attend the next work session, provide detailed engineering letters, and prepare staff recommendations.
Key figures: the reserve is 100,000 gpd. Applicant-provided engineer letter for the endodontics build-out stated a maximum usage of 82 gpd; city staff high-level calculation in the board memo suggested 522 gpd for that tenant space. Staff estimated that connection options to the City of Columbia could relieve Spring Hill capacity constraints by “upwards of 1.5 million gallons per day” if pursued and found feasible in a separate study.
