Now that Senoia has obtained up to two million gallons a day in sewerage capacity from the EPD, the tough decision making process starts.

During a called meeting last Friday morning, city administrator Richard Ferry outlined several options for the city leaders to contemplate.

First, the city will probably only need an extra million gallons a day to sustain its projected growth for the next 20 years. If the city chooses to, it can reject the other one million gallons granted by the EPD and either expand its current land application system on Andrews Parkway or build a treatment plant The city is currently using about 490,000 gallons a day.

Second, the city can try and negotiate with Coweta County and let the county have one million gallons to provide sewerage for the proposed McIntosh Village development near Sharpsburg.

In initial talks with the county, county officials have indicated a desire to either part-owners of a new facility or to have some of the capacity reserved to sell to future county customers.

“Maybe they should try and get their own allocation,” said Councilman Bobby Graham.

Third, the city could try and provide the excess capacity to Reese Developers and McIntosh Village without dealing with the county. However, since McIntosh Village is in the unincorporated county, the city could face potential legal issues.

One of the biggest factors in the decision is cost and estimates for a new two million gallon per day facility range up to $20 million. Reese has pledged $8 million, but the city would have to look at several options to make sure the costs weren’t totally borne by current sewer customers.

The city decided to meet with Coweta County in Senoia, just before its scheduled 7 p.m. council meeting Aug 20 to try and hammer out some of the issues.

In other news, the City Council pegged a new police station as its top priority for projects to be built with the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. Councilman Larry Owens also said the city needed to look at building a new city hall to better serve the people.

“This building gets real crowded when we have court here,” he said.

The council also agreed transportation projects were another concern. Specifically, several new businesses are slated to open in downtown Senoia in December, but parking could prove to be a problem.

“The planning commission recommended a study, but I think there are things we can do now without a study,” said Mayor Robert Belisle.

The city’s leaders pledged to look into the issue and come up with at least a temporary solution by later this year.

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