Friday, Apr. 22, 2005

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Senoia sewer deal may need OK from PTC Council

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

A contract that would allow Peachtree City’s Water and Sewer Authority to treat 500,000 gallons of sewage a day from the city of Senoia has been offered to Senoia city officials by WASA General Manager Larry Turner but the Peachtree City sewage authority hasn’t yet discussed it or voted on it.

And there’s some question brewing about whether or not the deal must be ratified by the Peachtree City City Council, according to a May 1, 1997 agreement between WASA and the City Council.

The agreement states that WASA “shall not extend the system or enter into any contract or commitment to extend the system outside the corporate limits of the city, unless such extension, contract or commitment is approved by resolution of the Council of Peachtree City.”

City Attorney Ted Meeker said that means any such deal to provide sewage anywhere outside of the city limits must be approved by the City Council, according to a contract between the council and WASA. But Turner said that he doesn’t interpret the agreement as requiring council approval.

“That’s not how we read it,” Turner said.

Turner said he hoped council members would see the benefit of the proposed deal, which would help keep Peachtree City sewer customers from having to pay increased sewer rates, he noted. The authority’s financial status took a hit recently when it’s largest customer, Photocircuits, announced it was greatly reducing its need for sewage treatment since the majority of its operations were being moved out of town.

The industry contributed about 180,000 gallons a day of sewage to WASA’s system ... and that ultimately added $400,000 a year to the authority’s bottom line, Turner said.

“We won’t have that $400,000 anymore,” Turner said. WASA has not raised its sewer rates since the news broke several months ago about the impending loss of Photocircuits.

Although the price offered to Senoia is cheaper than the current rate charged to city residents, WASA will have no capital expenditures or equipment to maintain in the deal, Turner said. Under the proposal, Senoia would be charged a flat rate of $3.50 for every 1,000 gallons treated by WASA.

Currently, Peachtree City customers pay $4.38 for each 1,000 gallons of treated sewage, Turner said. Photocircuits pays $4.85 to treat 1,000 gallons of sewage ... and it also has to pre-treat the water to remove certain contaminants, Turner noted.

Turner confirmed that WASA has not yet discussed the matter at a public meeting but he will make a presentation to the authority at its regular May 2 meeting.

“This has been handled strictly on a staff level up to now,” Turner said Thursday morning.

WASA will also be paid $3.3 million from Senoia as part of the deal, with $500,000 of that coming up front when the agreement is signed and the remainder being paid out over several years. That figure includes interest payments.

Peachtree City has environmental permits allowing it to treat up to 6 million gallons a day. Even if the Senoia deal is approved, it will ultimately leave the city with a leftover 570,000 gallons a day as a contingency should more be needed for new development after the city reaches build-out for residential, commercial and industrial use, Turner said.

The city currently averages 3.89 million gallons of treated sewage a day, which is 2.11 less than its total capacity of 6 million gallons a day, Turner said.

Of the 2.11 MGD currently “left over,” Turner said WASA estimates 500,000 gallons a day will be needed for the now-undeveloped commercial property in Peachtree City, another 370,000 gallons for industrial park sewer customers, another 500,000 gallons for the build-out level of homes in the city (assuming an additional 60,000 people) and another 300,000 gallons a day if the city wanted to convert all homes currently on septic tanks to sewer usage.

The proposed deal with Senoia is in accordance with the findings of the North Georgia Water Planning District, which has Peachtree City’s two sewage treatment plants tabbed as providing “regional” services, Turner said.

Turner said the projected wastewater would come from new home construction in Senoia instead of switching Senoia’s current system so sewage would flow from existing homes to Peachtree City.

Turner said he didn’t foresee another large sewer using industry to locate in the city to possibly take the place of Photocircuits, due to legal conflicts at the state level often referred to as the “water wars.”

Councilman Stuart Kourajian said “on the surface” he would be in favor of allowing Senoia to purchase sewer capacity from WASA, especially since it would replace the lost revenue from the Photocircuits move. He cautioned that his mind wasn’t made up, and it will be important to determine if this would handcuff the city from pursuing developments inside the city limits and in unincorporated Fayette County.

Councilman Steve Rapson said he recalled working on the sewer system purchase agreement in 1997 when he was then the city’s finance director. The intent of allowing the council to have final say-so on extending the sewer system beyond the city limits, Rapson said, was to insure there would be enough capacity to handle the city’s needs at build-out ... that is, once all remaining land is developed.

Rapson said he would want city staff to have a crack at the city’s projected sewer need for the future, and he wants to take into consideration the public safety and traffic impact the proposed Senoia sewer deal would bring, in other words, “How it will impact our city as well.”

“I look at sewer as a growth issue,” Rapson said, adding that he felt the proposed Senoia expansion should be an issue decided by council.

“This should be left up to the elected officials, not appointed officials,” Rapson said.

The Citizen was unable to reach the other three city council members by press time Thursday afternoon.

Former Mayor Bob Lenox was also involved in the 1997 sewer purchase negotiations in which the city bought the system from Georgia Utilities, an entity owned by the owners of Peachtree City Development Corporation, now known as Pathway Communities. From an economics standpoint, the Senoia deal would make sense for Peachtree City residents, especially since the city’s West Village was never annexed in at the originally sought density.

Lenox, like Rapson, noted that the deal would lead to significant growth in Senoia, which could cause problems, especially with the main thoroughfare of Rockaway Road already experiencing heavy traffic volumes during commuting time. Senoia officials want to make the Rockaway Road/Ga. Highway 74 intersection a three-way stop, but that has been resisted by Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown, who says that realigning Rockaway Road with the traffic light at Holly Grove Road is the answer to the traffic problem.

A rezoning for a proposed subdivision in the area that would have included the Rockaway Road realignment was ultimately voted down by the Peachtree City Council in 2003.