|
Cashiers residents again upset about developers’ request
By Carey King
Many of the same Cashiers residents who packed Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority meetings five years ago showed up for a TWSA session May 24 to voice similar concerns.
As in 2000, the issue at hand was deciding just who will get to use the Cashiers sewer plant’s limited processing capacity.
“The rumor around Cashiers is there is an imminent deal with two developers,” said William McKee, speaking on behalf of the non-profit Village Conservancy.
Built in 1986, the Cashiers plant runs at near-capacity during tourist season. Currently processing 100,000 gallons per day, the facility is in the midst of a three-phase expansion plan to bring its capability to 200,000 gallons. While most of the first 100,000 gallons is spoken for - including a May 24 allotment of 3,400 gallons per day for a new county recreation center - the second 100,000 has yet to be allocated. TWSA Director Joe Cline has said he’s received enough requests to take up the full 200,000, and two of those - from developers Blue Ridge Estates and Cashiers Investment – are what’s bothering the Cashiers residents. The two developers have asked for 65,000 gallons, or two-thirds of the plant’s additional processing capacity, and residents said that’s just not fair.
“Our (Village Conservancy) board is supportive of expanding the sewer plant, but feels there should be a fairer way to get an allocation,” said McKee, noting that he feels more public notice should have been given about the developers’ request.
“I think that if reasonable notice was given, other landowners would participate,” McKee said. “I represent a lot of people’s opinions on this.”
“Some of you I know from before,” said Vanna Montgomery, past chairman of the Cashiers Community Water Council. “You all got the noise and smell abated (from the plant), and we appreciate that more than you know, but a lot of people’s (septic) systems have failed (and they need sewer service).”
Five years ago, a group of area developers offered to purchase a 200,000-gallon used water treatment plant for TWSA, which at the time lacked funding to take on such a project. As part of the deal, the developers asked that 40 percent be reserved for their own use - a request that outraged residents, more than 800 of which signed a petition protesting the idea.
Currently, Blue Ridge Estates is asking for 25,185 gallons per day for a planned development on 13 acres near the old Hardee’s restaurant on U.S. 64 West that would include a hotel, pool, fitness center, 125-seat restaurant and 12 three bedroom-cottages. Cashiers Investment wants 40,320 gallons per day for 112 three-bedroom homes to be built on 31 acres near Ingles on U.S. 64 East. Both developers would pay TWSA impact and acreage fees - about $1.8 million in full - up front, a move that would allow TWSA to fund the second phase of the plant’s expansion. The project is expected to take at least two years and involve installation of a new basin and filters. Only after the expansion is complete would the developers be able to use the sewer supply.
The upset residents said the potential deal violates a pledge TWSA made Cashiers after the debate five years ago. At the time, the residents say, TWSA promised it would never let one group dominate the plant’s capacity, and agreed to let current residents have first dibs on the capacity available. That priority list was then to expand to existing businesses, then new homes and new businesses, residents say.
However, Cline and current TWSA board members say there’s no evidence that such a priority list exists.
“There’s no agreement back in the minutes. There was no formal vote by the board,” Cline told The Herald.
TWSA’s directorship has changed twice since 2000 and “maybe two board members” remain the same, Cline said, so few of the authority’s leaders recall the issue.
“Our attorney (Raymond Large) has been here since TWSA’s formation (in 1992), and he said there’s been no formal commitment,” said Cline, noting that Large has recalled that board members at the time felt the prioritization was a good idea.
TWSA leaders periodically contact the Jackson County Health Department to find out whether failing systems exist, Cline said, but the answer for Cashiers has generally been “no.”
“If there’s anyone with a failing system, we certainly would like to see to it,” he said. Board members approve allocations on a first-come, first-served basis, Cline said. “It’s not our intent here at TWSA to hurt or harm anyone in Cashiers. We have a business here to operate like everyone else,” he said. “A lot of things have been said. It’s not that people have been untruthful. We would like to see everyone get all the sewer capacity they need.”
No deal has been signed with either developer, Cline said, as “some issues are still being hammered out” with the agreement.
The issue is expected to be discussed again at the TWSA board’s Tuesday, June 14, 5:30 p.m. work session.
In addition, TWSA board members have directed Cline to develop a fact sheet to help TWSA explain its procedures to residents.
“Hopefully it will help the people in Cashiers to understand our position,” Cline said.
The Crossroad Chronicle editorialized May 18 that TWSA should hold a public forum about the matter in Cashiers, and quoted Commissioner Eddie Madden, who represents the Cashiers district, as saying he’s not pleased with the developers’ plan. Madden said he’d like TWSA to approach the state to see if there’s a way to further expand the plant, the Chronicle said.
In addition to taking funds TWSA currently doesn’t have, such a project might not even be allowed, Cline said. State regulators have determined the Chatooga River tributary the plant dumps into to be “outstanding resource” waters, a designation that makes it difficult to get the go-ahead for increasing discharge amounts, he said. The plant is now permitted for 200,000 gallons per day and nothing more. “Even if we had funds to build a 10 million gallons-per-day plant up there, right now we couldn’t do that,” Cline said.
|
