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By Rose Hooper
Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority board members will receive
public comment on a budget resolution during a hearing before
their regularly-scheduled meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept.
16.
One change being recommended says that when both water distribution
and wastewater collection are not accessible, or if new customers
are approved to only hookup to one system, then the impact fee
would be calculated at 150 percent of the established rate.
Current TWSA regulations call for customers to hook up to both
water and sewer where available. This change would provide customers
the option of only hooking up to one, but at a higher price.
The proposed resolution comes on the heels of requests by customers
like Mike Clark, who say they need one service, although both
are available.
Appearing both in July and August before the TWSA board, Clark
explained how his family donated right of way to Jackson County
when a water distribution line was extended from Western Carolina
University to a proposed industrial park.
"In 1981 when we were developing a convenience store and
laundry mat, we requested access to that public water line. The
county granted it, but the university refused us," said Clark,
who has spent "tens of thousands of dollars for a private
water system over the years."
Clark, who is planning three one-bedroom mobile homes on the site,
said he was told he would now have to hook into TWSA's water line.
"It's hard to imagine any circumstances under which it would
be fair to now force people who had been treated in such a manner
to tap into this same line against their will," Clark told
the TWSA board. He then requested a variance.
If the proposed change is approved, Clark would not need a variance,
said TWSA Chairman Mickey Luker.
Stephen Kenney of Bostic-Kenney Construction Inc. has also requested
a variance, but in another matter that could be solved by another
budget amendment the board is set to consider Sept. 16.
Kenney, who plans to construct Catamount Peak, a 500-bedroom apartment
complex in Cullowhee, requested his allocation fees be reduced
by his off-site costs.
In July, the board grant him 60,000 gallons per day wastewater
capacity, which would cost $352,200 in allocation costs. Kenney
said his cost of extending water lines at $75,000 and sewer extensions
at $125,000 would total $200,000.
"Our up-front costs simply to bring water and sewer to the
site total $552,200," Kenney said. "This is separate
and apart from the construction of the water and sewer within
the site itself. These initial costs will, in fact, put a severe
strain on the project.
"We request that the board allow us to reduce its allocation
fees by the extension cost incurred," Kenney said.
Public comment on this budget item will also be taken Sept. 16,
as will capacity assurance and the time frame involved.
In current TWSA regulations, billing starts six months from the
day impact fees are paid. Kenney told the board such a restriction
is impossible for large developments like his to meet and requested
that minimum billing not begin until the units are occupied.
"I think you would want to encourage, not discourage, economic
development," he told the board.
The board heard a similar request in July from builder Roger Bartlett
of Western Builders. Large-scale development cannot be completed
in six months, said Bartlett, who urged the board to consider
projects on a "case-by-case" basis.
Rather than case-by-case variances, changes like this would need
to be addressed by an amendment, Luker said.
In addition to its regular meeting on the third Tuesday of each
month, TWSA is now scheduling work sessions the second Tuesday
of each month at 5:30 p.m. in the conference room.
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