Board clears Helmsburg Regional Sewer District to build new wastewater plant to replace failing facility

The Brown County Board of Zoning Appeals on March 25 approved a special exception allowing the Helmsburg Regional Sewer District to construct a new wastewater treatment plant to replace its aging facility.

Staff described docket 26-SE-03 as a request to build a public sewage disposal plant on a combined parcel of roughly 2.107 acres at 4862 Helmsburg Road. The presentation noted the current plant was approved in 1995 and is nearing failure; the new plan shifts the facility to increase the setback to the nearest residence and includes a lift station, screening structure, sludge-handling building, UV channel and post-aeration, and related structures. Staff noted minimum 300-foot setbacks in the ordinance would not be met but pointed to surrounding privately owned acreage and adjacent floodway as mitigating factors; staff also said Brown County Water Utility can provide service and that parking and a single entrance meet ordinance requirements.

Kyle Myers, vice president/treasurer of the Helmsburg Regional Sewer District board, told the board the current plant is 30 years old with structural failures and that the district has worked for five years to design the replacement. He said the district used county ARPA funds to acquire property, received a forgivable SRF/IDEM loan for design, completed environmental work, obtained IDEM and Army Corps approvals for floodplain construction, and has bid-ready plans and funding available from the State Revolving Fund for construction. He described the proposed plant as an Aeromod commercial-style system intended to be robust and expandable rather than a short-lived package plant.

A local resident speaking in favor said Holmesburg residents cannot rely on septic systems and that a failing plant would create serious problems for the neighborhood; she noted the purchased adjacent acreage and the floodway buffer reduce the likelihood of residential intrusion near the site. Board members asked technical questions about discharge (to Beanblossom Creek), sludge handling (hauling to Nashville plant under agreement), and infiltration/inflow studies; the petitioner said flows have been metered and some I&I issues exist during large rains.

After discussion, the board moved and voted to approve docket 26-SE-03. The board recorded unanimous support among members present. The district said construction funding is expected to be available and that it hopes to bid and break ground later in the year.

The approval allows the district to proceed with the replacement plant subject to the permits and construction approvals that the district reported having or seeking from IDEM, the Army Corps and other agencies.