Officials: Lack of public sewers inhibiting growth

Whenever an area sees new development, economic growth is likely to follow. But in order to have that development, one essential item will always be necessary "“ sewer systems.

This is the reason why some in the local real-estate industry are advocating for, and local government officials are looking into, ways to expand public sewer systems in Athens County.

Liz Maule of Liz Maule Realty said that the lack of expanded sewer systems in the county is limiting both residential building and commercial building.

"Everybody talks about bringing in new companies," Maule said, "but we're stuck until we get more sewer. We cannot grow. A place has to grow or it dies."

Athens County Planner Bob Lichtenberg said that currently the county is supporting the village of Coolville's attempt at getting a system, and generally encouraging existing systems to expand efficiently.

"We're trying to avoid expansion on a speculative basis; there's really no money to do that," Eichenberg said.

The main corridor where there is talk about how to expand sewer service is the corridor along U.S. Rt. 50/Ohio Rt. 32 between Athens and Albany.

Eichenberg said that there is obviously a need for expanded sewer in this area, which has numerous residential subdivisions currently served by individual septic systems. The question is whether the need is great enough to justify the county commissioners taking the political and financial leap necessary to expand public sewers into this area.

"They're very expensive to put in, obviously, so wherever they go a lot of thought has to be put into if this is where we want growth or not," Eichenberg said.

Andy Stone, city of Athens director of engineering and public works, said he agrees that the biggest hindrance to development in the county is a lack of an expanded public sewer system. Septic-system regulations over the past decades, he said, have rightfully gotten more stringent, which protects water quality.

"To do any type of high-density building for commercial use, it's very hard to do with a septic system," he said. "And it's our goal as a county to get more economic development, especially out in the more rural areas. We've got to figure out how to get sanitary sewer systems out there."

The city of Athens comprehensive plan, Stone said, has identified the Athens-to-Albany corridor as the most appropriate direction for the city to grow in future years. The reason for this, Stone said, is that it is out of the flood plain and has the least amount of slip-prone terrain.

"How we would provide sewer service would be a big part of that growth," Stone said.

Currently, city sewer service extends to Andover Road and the apartments near there, he said. If service is extended in that direction, he said, a problem will be dealing with an already overburdened city system. Using the south-side treatment facility would require major improvements, he said. Another option is going toward the Margaret's Creek area and bringing it in on West Union Street, Stone said, or adding another treatment plant in that vicinity.

"It's a pretty important thing to look at regionally," Stone said, adding that expansion would have to be a joint effort between the city and county. A condition for taking the sewage, Stone speculated, would be the city wanting annexation of the served areas.

"Right now, City Council has basically set down the guidelines to the administration that the city will not provide water and sewer service going forward without annexation," he said.

County Commissioner Larry Payne, who was mayor of Albany when the public sewer system there was put into place, said that he recently spoke with the Ohio Department of Development director about the Athens-to-Albany connection and possible funding sources, such as grants. He said the problem is that the higher-income residential subdivisions between the municipalities would eliminate most income- or wealth-based grants as an option.

Payne said funds might be available, however, for developable land in the corridor.

In the past, discussions about expanding sewer services in the Athens-to-Albany corridor have involved possible assessments for property owners who would benefit from it. But the county hasn't wanted to go in that direction if the assessments will be prohibitively expensive.

Payne said that he thinks the county should explore partnering with the city of Athens to expand the sewer systems. He also said the county economic development director will be looking into finding funds for the project.

"It's something that I would like to explore," Payne said.

Athens City-County Health Department Director Charles Hammer said that it's always a good thing for the public health to move from septic systems to public sewer systems.

"There's a whole long list of reasons why public systems are superior to on-site wastewater disposal," he said.

Meanwhile, Liz Maule said that the cost of replacing outdated septic systems is negatively impacting the real-estate market.

"We need expanded sewer systems in the county so that more affordable homes can be built and so that existing homes with failing systems don't have to be replaced with expensive systems costing $5,000 to $25,000," Maule said. "The cost of septic systems as currently permitted keeps many families from building a new home. The septic drives the cost of the home above current appraisal levels and can't be financed. This is a very serious situation that deserves much local public attention."