Spring Hill moves on sewer allocations, $2.5M plant assessment and developer MOU

Spring Hill's Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved a first reading of an ordinance to amend the city's sewer-capacity reserve and heard competing tracks for how to manage limited wastewater capacity: short-term allocations for medical tenants, a staff-proposed multifirm plant assessment estimated at about $2.5 million, and a developer-led pre-MOU for a decentralized treatment basin that could shift treated gallons off the city plant.

John Hoffensberger, president of CMK Properties, asked the board to approve a 500-gallons-per-day allocation from the reserve for two medical providers at 5221 Port Royal Road, saying the request equals "one half of one percent" of the city's cited 100,000-gallon reserve and would allow finish-out of currently vacant medical spaces. "Approving this today allows these clinics to move forward, treat patients, and serve the community," Hoffensberger said.

Staff urged caution but recommended approval of the medical allocation during the ordinance first reading. Mr. Allen, a city staff presenter, said the administration will require sub-metering of tenant spaces to measure actual flow and report results monthly to Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). On the broader systems question, Allen told the board the city has concerns that problems at the treatment plant are not merely maintenance issues and that a comprehensive assessment of electrical and mechanical systems is warranted. "We expect the total cost to be around $2.5 million," Allen said of the proposed embedded 10-week assessment (task order 1) that would combine multiple engineering firms.

Developers representing a self-described "West Basin Alliance" (Harvest Point, Barton Hills and Arbor Valley) urged a parallel approach that would let them build decentralized treatment and asked the city to consider redirecting certain developer fees toward those systems. Kelly Beasley, a Harvest Point developer, asked the board to consider allowing some sewer development and tap fees and a modest portion of CIP or impact-fee proceeds to be used to construct decentralized infrastructure that the city would accept and operate. "Measures like that are going to make a huge difference for us to be able to keep moving," Beasley said.

Joey Smith, a Barton Hills developer, outlined three technical requests for regulators: a planning assumption of 250 gallons per day for certain approvals, a 1-to-1 credit if gallons are taken offline at a pump station and treated (so treated gallons could be redeployed elsewhere), and attention to portability if the city were to accept multiple decentralized systems. The board and staff repeatedly flagged TDEC compliance and monitoring as a gating issue; Mayor Fitterer said a gallon-for-gallon swap must be trackable and "in large chunks" to remain compliant.

The board approved the first reading of ordinance 26-01 amending section 2(f) of ordinance 25-29, and staff said they will present a monthly compliance report showing allocations, actual usage versus projections, and TDEC reporting. Next steps include (1) completing the task-order procurement and initiating the plant assessment if the board directs, (2) advancing the developer MOU and associated LOIs for land contributions, and (3) further conversations with TDEC about credits, portability and how any decentralized capacity would be monitored and integrated into the city's compliance framework.

Action on the plant assessment would involve multiple firms and could carry change-order risk depending on what the embedded team discovers; staff said they would keep the board apprised of cost and scope changes.