Commercial/industrial taps limited in county sewer project – Athens NEWS

Athens City Council voted Monday to approve an ordinance finalizing an agreement between the city and Athens County for the city to provide sewer-collection and treatment services to a portion of the county southwest of Athens thats currently plagued with failing septic systems.

Embedded in the agreement is a requirement that no more than 4 percent of the 1,500 equivalent single-family units (ESFU) taps in the area of the sewer district expansion (roughly defined as the Athens-to-Albany corridor, though including spurs from that area) will be for commercial uses, and no more than 1 percent of those taps will be for industrial uses.

Any additional taps beyond (those limits for the 1,500 ESFUs) must be subject to a separate future agreement between the county and the city, the agreement reads.

City Engineer Andy Stone explained that the sewer-expansion project on the countys part is meant to solve a pollution problem that exists right now and is a significant public-health and environmental concern. The project has been on the countys radar for over 20 years, after the Ohio EPA sent a notice in 1995 detailing environmental concerns related to the use of septic-tank systems in rural areas southwest of the city of Athens that were seeing substantial residential growth, specifically in subdivision development.

The Athens City-County Health Department has called failing septic systems in that area, and other parts of the county, one of the biggest public-health issues facing the county. Since 1995, the county Commissioners have been moving by fits and starts toward a plan to install a central sanitary sewer collection system.

Its not an economic development project to where we (the city) are looking to promote a bunch of growth out there, Stone clarified. The city is concerned about too much growth out there versus in the city, because the city has an income tax and would prefer to have economic development inside the city limits. Were not going to be party to a sewage system thats going to incentivize business to move outside the city.

County Commissioner Lenny Eliason said in a brief interview Wednesday morning a public meeting will be held the last week of September on the sewer expansion project. At that meeting, he said, the Commissioners expect to reach a decision on whether or not to proceed with the rest of the project. An engineering firm for the county already has designed 60 percent of the project, and the Commissioners are awaiting further information from the federal government on how much of the project will be grant-funded. The Commissioners are hoping for a 60 percent loan/40 percent grant split for the $20 million project. The loan/grant split is a key piece of information for the commissioners as they are concerned about the projects affordability for residents. They previously set a benchmark that the per-month sewer bill rate for homeowners in the project area should not exceed $79.

The county will pay for extension of sanitary sewer lines from three separate points in the city of Athens sewer lines.

Other regulations spelled out in the city-county agreement include:

If the sewage being treated by the city coming from the county expansion exceeds 2.1 million gallons per day on nine separate occasions per year, the city can direct the county to design and construct additional treatment facilities.

The county will pay a $3,000 per equivalent single-family-home capacity fee.

Stone stressed that the city wants to help improve sewer services in the region, but must protect its own interests.

Its a project to address an existing pollution problem to protect the environment, he said. Thats our number one concern. Right now, Margarets Creek and the Hocking River are really suffering pollution from failing septic systems.

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Commercial/industrial taps limited in county sewer project - Athens NEWS