HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES-2003-068 Resolution Initiating the Project to Expand the 1997 Efland Sewer Bond Area System and to Extend Water and Sewer Utilities to Serve the Buckhorn EDD Area and Communityoo~~o~~ ~~ ~~
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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
A Resolution
Initiating the Project to Expand the Efland Sewer System into the Area
Defined by the 1997 Efland Sewer Bond and to
Extend Water and Sewer Utilities to Serve the Buckhorn Road EDD
and Community
WHEREAS, Orange County has a central role in protecting public health within the
entire County and providing for economic development opportunities in
the unincorporated portions of the County; and
1. has developed and continues to own and operate the Efland sewer
system which was created to address failing septic tank/public health
issues in Efland; and
2. recognizes that there remain unaddressed failing septic tank/public health
issues affecting the citizens of central Efland; and
3. has historically committed to addressing the failing septic tank/public
health issues in central Efland; and
4. the Orange County voters approved a $1.2 million bond issue in 1997 to
help finance an extension of the existing Efland sewer system to address
the failing septic tank/public health issues in central Efland; and
WHEREAS, Orange County has a role in helping locate schools on appropriate sites
having desirable characteristics such as compatibility with County land
use planning and having readily available water and sewer utility services;
and
County elected officials and staff have worked with the County's school
boards to identify desirable characteristics of school sites and have
developed a collaborative process for identifying and evaluating school
sites; and
2. the Orange County School Board has identified the Efland community as
the area where a new middle school would best meet the needs of the
school population in the district; and
3. the Orange County School Board staff has worked with County Planning
and Land Records/GIS Departments to narrow the site search for Orange
County Middle School #3 to an area outside of Efland but within the
Orange County Service Area of the Water and Sewer Management
Planning and Boundary Agreement and Map; and
4. the Orange County School Board has identified a potential school site
within the I-85/Buckhorn Road Economic Development District (hereafter
"the EDD") and adjacent to the core elements of a proposed wastewater
collection system intended to serve the EDD; and
5. the BOCC has approved the Orange County School Board's request for
funds to secure options on property for a potential Efland middle school
site in the EDD and the Board of Education has in fact acquired these
options; and
6. the projected Fall 2006 opening for a new Orange County Schools middle
school puts time constraints on school site acquisition, school design,
school construction activities and whatever utility construction is required
to ensure that water and wastewater utilities are available to the site; and
WHEREAS, Orange County has long been involved in the processes of dealing with
public health and economic development issues in the Efland-Cheeks
community; and
the County recognizes that there are failing septic tank/public health
issues affecting the citizens residing in the community along Buckhorn
Road (hereafter "the Buckhorn Road community"); and
2. the County has agreed to help address the water supply and failing septic
tank/public health issues in the Buckhorn Road community; and
3. the County, having recognized the need to diversify its tax base and
enhance employment opportunities for its citizens, has created three
economic development zones or districts, including the EDD, zoned them
for appropriate non-residential uses, and created development standards
for each; and
4. the Buckhorn EDD contains approximately 900 acres along the north and
south sides of Interstate 85/40 east of the Buckhorn Road interchange;
and
5. the zoning and land use aspects of the EDD are consistent with the
availability of water distribution and wastewater collection utilities; and
6. the County recognizes that providing at least the core elements of water
and sewer infrastructure to the EDD will help promote non-residential
development in the Buckhorn EDD, which will in turn help to stabilize and
make permanent zoning of the Buckhorn EDD; and
7. the County has secured a $900,000 Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) grant for the construction of portions of a wastewater collection
system that could provide the core of wastewater utilities for the EDD and
could also provide wastewater collection for the Buckhorn Road
community and for the proposed middle school site; and
8. the County's EPA grant is a matching fund grant which the County will
match with proceeds from the 1997 Efland Sewer Bond; and
9. the use of the Bond funds as the match for the EPA grant requires that
both the bond funded project and the grant funded project be configured
such that system design and construction activities be carried out as two
sections or phases of a single project and adhere to the rules and
requirements of EPA funded utility projects; and
10. Orange County and the City of Mebane have previously cooperated to
provide municipal utility service to economic development areas to the
mutual benefit of both the City and County; and
11. County officials and staff have held discussions with City of Mebane
officials and staff about the engineering feasibility of, and the City's
willingness to allow, the extension of City water distribution and
wastewater collection utilities to the Buckhorn Road community and the
EDD; and
12. City of Mebane and Orange County officials and staff have determined
that extending City water distribution and wastewater collection utilities to
the Buckhorn Road community and the EDD is feasible and offers
significant benefits to the County, the City and the community; and
13. the County wishes to ensure that its adopted development standards for
the EDD and the integrity of the County Land Use Plan for the area
surrounding the Buckhorn Road community and the EDD remain intact
regardless of the availability or ownership of water and wastewater
utilities, and:
14. the County wishes to ensure that the integrity of the Efland Community is
not compromised and that it remain distinct from the EDD and the
Buckhorn Road community; and
15. the City of Mebane desires to secure the right of annexation to property to
which it provides municipal utility service and needs to control by virtue of
ownership the use, operation, maintenance, rate and fee structure, etc., of
the utility infrastructure and service it provides; and
16. accordingly, if the City is to provide water and wastewater service to the
EDD and The Buckhorn Road community, it will assume ownership of the
completed infrastructure and provide the operation and maintenance of
the systems.
NOW, THEREFORE, the Orange County Board of Commissioners, does hereby
resolve to:
1. Approve the scope of utility planning, development and design work as generally
outlined in ATTACHMENT "A" with the addition of cost estimates, as appropriate;
and
2. Direct County staff to move forward with the process of soliciting proposals for utility
design consultants and selecting a design consultant on the basis of those
proposals; and
3. Direct County staff to move forward with the process of developing, negotiating and
submitting for Board approval the necessary interlocal utility extension, land use and
annexation agreements with the City of Mebane; and
4. Staff to provide a report and Plan to Board of County Commissioners for comment;
and
5. Direct the County staff to move forward with developing financing strategies such as
utility assessments or acquiring additional grant funding for utility extension costs
not addressed by funds available from the EPA grant or Efland Sewer Bond; and
6. Direct the County staff to undertake a public education campaign to advise citizens
and property owners who will benefit from the availability of the expansion of utility
service in the Efland-Cheeks community about what costs of that expansion that
they may be required to bear.
This, the 1st day of October, 2003.
.`~,A,
Margaret Brown, Chair
Orange County Board of Commissioners
ATTACHMENT "A"
General Scope of Work for Engineering Design/Planning Consultant
• Preparing Environmental Assessment Reports necessary to meet EPA grant
requirements
• Providing necessary design and easement surveying
• Preparing construction documentation for the Efland Bond area sewer extension
• Preparing construction documentation for the Buckhorn Road EDD and Community
water and sewer extension
• Preparing awater/sewer utility master plan for the Buckhorn EDD
• Revising the existing (unapproved) sewer master plan for Efland as necessary to
conform to the County's Land Use Plans
• Preparing technical documentation necessary to seek additional water/sewer
construction grants
• Preparing technical documentation necessary to support water utility extension
assessment process for Buckhorn EDD
• Providing necessary project construction administration and oversight; and