Agenda - 05-04-2021; 8-a - Minutes

Browse Search

24 1 Travis Myren said this project would take sewer under the interstate to serve the parcels 2 in Growth Area A in the Buckhorn Area Plan. He said the debt service on the project is repaid 3 with article 46 sales tax money. 4 Chair Price asked if clarification could be provided on the districts shown on the map. 5 Travis Myren said Area D3 on this map is Area A in the Buckhorn Area Plan. He said 6 there is also a lift station upgrade shown on the map near Gravelly Hill Middle School. 7 Chair Price asked if the total is $1.2 million into area D3 on the map. 8 Travis Myren said yes. 9 Commissioner Fowler asked if this is an old map, or if this is something with which 10 people are familiar. 11 Travis Myren said Area A has always been in the Economic Development District (EDD). 12 Commissioner Bedford asked for some history about the sewer in this area. 13 Craig Benedict said the project started with a sewer lift system near Gravelly Hill Middle 14 School that provided a gravity system that went up to the D1 parcel. He said a stub was left out 15 near the interstate to take it up to the D3 area when development required it. He said a few 16 years ago a 16-inch water line was installed under the interstate to serve D3 from D1. He said 17 there is gravity sewer and the sewer lift station in the area, which was not stubbed out until the 18 program was phased. He said this is Phase 3, and is expensive. 19 Chair Price asked if Craig Benedict could explain the residential areas. 20 Craig Benedict said originally the gold areas on the map used to flow 3.5 miles over to 21 Hillsborough causing expensive sewer rates. He said in order to stabilize the rates there, a new 22 engineering program was developed to change the flow from Hillsborough to Mebane, near the 23 E2 parcel super sub regional lift station that can handle the flow of central Efland and the 24 majority of the EDD properties along the way. He said the out-of-town Mebane rates for Efland 25 are lower than that of Hillsborough. He said 1.5 to 2 years ago, all of the sewer, gravity, and lift 26 station assets were transferred from Efland, where it was under the county's cost, to Mebane. 27 He said Mebane maintains these assets. 28 Commissioner Hamilton said she is concerned because the board has not completed the 29 Buckhorn Area Plan study, but she feels it is being discussed as though it has done so. She 30 said this can be confusing for residents who are concerned about the decisions the board is 31 going to make. She said she is unsure what the return on investment has been on the water 32 and sewer in the existing projects, and what is expected in the future. She said there are other 33 things for which the Article 46 sales tax can be used. She asked if more information could be 34 provided on the return before making decisions on further water and sewer in this area. 35 Chair Price said there is little context on what is in each area on the map. 36 Chair Price asked if Buckhorn-Mebane EDD Phase 2 is different plan than the county's 37 Buckhorn EDD. She asked if the arrow pointing to 1 is part of A. 38 Craig Benedict said he would provide that information to the board. He said it was about 39 a two-mile extent of sewer that went all the way from D1 to A, and into Mebane. He said this 40 zone is part of phase 2. 41 Chair Price asked if it was Phase 2 of the Mebane-Buckhorn EDD or the county's 42 Buckhorn EDD. 43 Craig Benedict said the engineering program from Efland to Mebane was called the 44 Buckhorn-Mebane Economic Development Infrastructure plan. He said he will provide more 45 specificity for each of the phases to explain how it all ties together. He said it was done in 46 phases so there was less upfront money. 47 Chair Price asked if the map could be labeled more clearly in order to understand which 48 phases are parts of which plan. 49 Travis Myren said staff can clarify that. He said there would be an abstract coming to 50 the board on April 20, 2021 discussing the next steps for the Buckhorn Area Plan. He said this 51 can be revisited and staff can provide additional detail.