Greene County asks Kinston for extra 50,000 gallons per day to serve Global Transport Park growth

Greene County commissioners voted May 4 to endorse submitting an amendment request to the City of Kinston that would add 50,000 gallons per day (gpd) of wastewater capacity to the county’s current 300,000 gpd allocation and permit Greene County to serve properties along the Highway 58 force main outside county lines to support growth at the Global Transport Park.

The proposal, presented by Mr. Rich, said the Global Transport Park has begun seeing development tied to a planned U.S. Navy C-130 maintenance facility and that the Navy installation’s domestic flow is estimated at about 9,400 gpd. Mr. Rich told the board, “we are proposing ... an additional 50,000 gallons per day of wastewater allocation above the 300,000 gallons that we've currently got allocated,” and said the additional allocation would be earmarked for growth within the Global Transport Park.

Why it matters: the county previously paid to oversize the sewer line to accommodate anticipated industrial and residential growth. Commissioners and staff said adding the extra allocation is intended to keep the county from losing potential customers to other jurisdictions and to support secondary businesses that would serve the larger facility and corridor.

Discussion and conditions: commissioners asked whether nearby homeowners have the right to hook up to the line; staff said residents may request to connect but that a formal county connection policy is needed to set eligibility, rates and procedures. Commissioners asked staff to draft that connection policy before larger use is permitted. The board also discussed a mix of existing customers served on the line (staff reported roughly 113 current hookups, with 42 tied to Cutter Creek counted separately) and clarified that some past references to Kinston staff were to retired officials; the current interim Kinston manager was described as reasonable by Mr. Rich.

Board action: a commissioner moved and seconded endorsement of the amendment submittal to Kinston; after questions and clarifications the board called the question and approved the motion by voice vote. The motion directs staff to submit the proposed amendment to the City of Kinston for the city’s formal consideration; the city must still agree to any allocation change.

What remains unresolved: the city’s response, the final terms of any amendment, whether the 50,000 gpd would be added on top of existing allocations or reallocated from Greene County’s existing share, and the county’s finalized connection policy. Mr. Rich said earlier city engineers had sometimes proposed taking additional flow out of Greene County’s existing allocation rather than adding capacity, and he said the county prefers an added allocation to preserve capacity for the county’s planned growth.

Next steps: staff will submit the amendment request to the City of Kinston and draft a formal connection policy for the board’s future review.