After years of discussions and $300,000 in feasibility studies, the city of Senoia took the first step Monday to starting a municipal sewer system.

The city voted unanimously to proceed with negotiations to purchase the Southern Mills land application system and have the city's engineer start writing contracts to lay sewer lines to the city's lower income residents.

For the last two months, the city has been mulling the Southern Mills option, along with the idea of obtaining sewer service from Peachtree City, as the final choices in providing sewerage to the city's residents.

While Mayor Joan Trammell said pursuing the Southern Mills option does not totally abandon the idea of using Peachtree City's facilities, she did add that Peachtree City's Water and Sewerage Authority wants to serve the entire city or nothing.

Trammell added she knew this was a major decision to make, but said sufficient studies and time had been taken on the issue and the city needed to move forward.

Another factor in the decision was the city's $500,000 grant from the Department of Community Affairs to provide sewerage to the town's lower income residents.

The mayor said she received a phone call from the department saying the funds are still available for the city, but that something has to be done by next June or the city will lose the funds.

Councilman Robert Hannah suggested the council take a six-month option on the purchase of the Southern Mills property, but Trammell said she believed the negotiations were in the final stages.

After the Southern Mills purchase is complete, the city will build the sewer system in two stages. The first stage will provide sewerage to the city's lower income residents, along with the central business area and Martinwood subdivision, which has a history of failed septic systems.

The second phase will run lines to the rest of the city and the new subdivisions that are sprouting up through town.

The total cost of both phases is $3.3 million and the estimated time for sewering the whole city is approximately three years.

Councilman Kyle Frank agreed that it's time to move ahead, but said he is concerned about the economic impact on residents.

“Everybody's water bill is going to double and that concerns me,” he said.

The mayor added that residents won't be asked to sign up for the sewer service until lines are run in their neighborhoods, which could be three years down the road.

The city plans to pay for the system through special purpose local option sales tax funds, grants and low interest loans.

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