Cedar Point, Onwasa discuss sewer service

By BRAD RICH

Tideland News Writer

The town of Cedar Point and the Onslow Water and Sewer Authority are engaged in early but serious talks about extending sewer service to the town from Swansboro.

Billy Joe Farmer, executive director of the Onslow utility company, and Jim Allen, a Swansboro commissioner who is on the ONWASA board of directors, met with the Cedar Point Board of Commissioners and Town Administrator Chris Seaberg during a work session in town hall on Oct. 23.

According to all three men, the talks were informative and productive, and Seaberg said the next step for the town board is to decide whether to amend and/or expand a 2012 sewer feasibility study done for the town by The Wooten Company.

Seaberg, Allen and Farmer all said there is a long way to go before the discussion could bear fruit. Farmer, for example, said he had not even brought the idea formally to his board. But Allen, who Farmer praised as knowledgeable, said he personally favored the idea of ONWASA seriously exploring the possibility.

I think it would be good for us (ONWASA) and good for them (the town), he said. It would be good for the environment there are a lot of septic tanks and (private package) treatment plants in Cedar Point and good for the White Oak River, which divides Swansboro, in Onslow County, and Cedar Point, in Carteret.

Seaberg said the board, during that Oct. 23 work session, agreed to think about the idea and discuss it more in November.

It obviously is a big step, and if we did decide to move ahead, wed have to go to the state and get them involved, he said. But there are a lot of people in town who in surveys have said they want sewer.

That Wooten study, which cost town $26,000, including a grant from the N.C. Rural Center, and $19,600 in town funds, strongly recommended that the town pursue a partnership with other local governments or agencies, such as Cape Carteret or ONWASA, if it wanted to get into the provision of sewer service to residents, businesses or both.

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Cedar Point, Onwasa discuss sewer service