THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994 TAG: 9406300591
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JEFF HOOTEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940630 LENGTH: CHESAPEAKE
Take away their toilet privileges.
{REST} Sewer hookups - standard equipment for builders and taken for granted by homeowners - could become a hot commodity in Great Bridge. The City Council voted Tuesday to adopt a policy for allocating sewer connections that would limit the number of new hookups there.
``There is a limited capacity for sewer service in the Great Bridge area,'' City Manager James W. Rein told the council, in recommending the change.
The Hampton Roads Sanitation District informed the city in February that the current system could accommodate only about 2,500 additional hookups before early 1996, when a proposed waste-water main along Centerville Turnpike is scheduled for completion. Once in place, the main would supply an additional 5,800 connections.
Under the new policy, sewer connections in the Great Bridge Service Area would be granted on a ``first-come, first-serve'' basis. Properties would qualify for connection under the following guidelines:
A development could not exceed the remaining capacity.
The property must already be zoned for the proposed development.
If the sanitation district decides in the future to redirect the flow of sewage, then either the property owner or the developer must bear the cost.
Rein said he recommended the policy so that builders would ``know what the rules are.'' He added that properties that had already been approved would be able to proceed.
The 5-1 vote followed a closed-door session at the end of Tuesday's council meeting. Vice Mayor John W. Butt cast the opposing vote.
Much of the extra demand for hookups stemmed from projects on the outskirts of the Great Bridge Service Area (as defined by the sanitation district). An alternative policy rejected by the city would have restricted sewer connections to those areas.
``We decided not to draw a hard and fast line as to what properties would be eligible,'' Rein said.
``This can always be revisited,'' said Mayor William E. Ward.
Indeed, the city hopes that the policy will become unnecessary when the Centerville Turnpike main comes on line. The sanitation district also has plans to expand a pipe serving the rapidly expanding Cedar Road area.
``Once the new line is built, the rules of the game will change,'' said Amar Dwarkanath, director of public utilities.
by CNB