Commission approves 37.7% county share for 30-inch sewer upsizing at BZI industrial park

The Iron County Commission voted to approve the county’s 37.7% share of the cost to upsize a planned 30-inch sewer line serving the BZI industrial park, a project the county’s engineer said involved about $1,200,000 in upsizing costs. The commission approved the memorandum of understanding allocating 37.7% to the county and 63.3% to Cedar City.

“We have been working for the last several years with BZI and the city as they are upsizing a couple of important sewer installations,” the county engineering official said, adding, “This is not any small amount of money. This is 1,200,000 of upsizing for that 30 inch line.” The official said the upsized pipe was built to accommodate future growth and that the work is already installed.

Commissioners discussed financial safeguards before approving the split. One commissioner flagged concerns that future infrastructure financing tools such as PIDs (property infrastructure districts) and inland-port increments could leave the county with sunk costs unless reimbursement paths are explicit. County staff said they are developing a capital facilities plan and will track impact fees and connections by area so costs can be reimbursed to the county when appropriate.

The commission’s action covers only the 30-inch sewer-line upsizing; the lift station financing will be negotiated separately. County staff said some impact fees already collected will be used and that they expect to be able to apply additional impact fees to reimburse the county balance.

Next steps: staff will circulate the final MOU to commissioners for signature and return with the separate lift station cost-allocation when that analysis is complete.