THE CITY OF FREDERICK

101 NORTH COURT STREET

FREDERICK, MARYLAND 21701

 

UTILITY COMMITTEE

Minutes

 

Wednesday, April 14th, 2004 - City Hall, room 214

Present:  Alderman Bill Hall, Alderman Dave Lenhart, Fred Eisenhart, Dan Christy,  Roy Whitehouse, Kenneth W. Parker, Ann Rollins, Larry Eubanks, Catherine Parks, Rachel S. Depo, Paul Lee, Eileen Farrar  

 

Item 1:  Approval of the minutes from the meetings of December 10th, 2003, and March 10th, 2004. Minutes were approved as written.

 

Item 2:  Consideration and discussion of a request by Mr. Roy Whitehouse on behalf of the First Baptist Church of Frederick for access to the City of Frederick Sewer system upon relocation of the church campus from Dill Avenue to Bowers Road.

Ms. Anne Rollins of Miles and Stockbridge stated that she was representing First Baptist Church of Frederick and stated that the church sits on Dill Avenue and has used all of the available space and has engaged in finding a new site for growing needs.  Ms. Rollins stated that the church has purchased the site on Bowers Road and pointed out the area on a map. Ms. Rollins stated that the church would like to connect into the City sewer system and that the church would like to run a sewer line across Bowers Road that connects into the city service that will be the area known as Bird’s Eye View Estates.  Ms.Rollins stated that the church has contacted Howard Payne who owns the lots on Birds Eye View to obtain an easement for this purpose should they get the necessary approval from the city.  Ms. Rollins explained the hardship in cost to the church project should they not be hooked up to the city sewer.  Ms. Rollins explained that the church is aware of the double cost due to being outside of the city.  Mr. Whitehouse passed out information regarding flow calculations that has been approved by Ralph Mobley in the planning department.  Mr. Whitehouse explained how each day of useage was shown.  Catherine Parks stated that traffic studies needed to be done to get an easement through the property at Birds Eye that the preliminary plans need to be looked at to make sure that the lots don’t have any problems with easements. Mr. Whitehouse stated that a traffic study had been done but they had not started the clock with a 60-day review period.  Fred Eisenhart stated that the City of Frederick maintains itself as a Municipal Water System and explained how the services are distributed.  Mr. Eisenhart explained that a precedent could be set with connection outside of the city limits. Dan Christy stated that due to water moratorium and the consent order signed with the MDE we cannot annex any more properties into the city until we have long term water supplies.  Mr. Christy also stated that due to the backlog of people waiting for water allocation, if they were to get water they would have to go to the back of the list and this would probably delay the project.  Mr. Christy stated that they are making sure that the city properties have enough capacity from the wastewater plants and you can’t over allocate sewer capacity because you can’t over allocate water allocations. Paul Lee stated that the county is saying that we should issue a moratorium on the sewer system due to over allocation.  Mr. Lee says that we have capacity and have proved to the county that we have capacity.  Alderman Bill Hall asked what was being done about this issue and Mr. Lee stated that the CIP program has asked for a project to install meters at transfer points at city/county limits to get accurate flow readings. Mr. Christy stated that until those meters are in place there will be a potential difference of opinion between the city and the county.    Rachel Depo, city attorney, offered her opinion and stated that her first concern would be capacity and the second would be as Mr. Eisenhart stated that once you extend this service to someone if your operating a public utility as a municipality then you are in a position to extend to everyone for future requests.  Alderman Hall stated that the service has already been extended to others.  Ms. Rollins offered to consent to go on city water as soon as the moratorium is lifted since they don’t need water now and by agreement as soon as the moratorium on annexations is lifted they will tie in on water and they will be annexed. Alderman Lenhart was in favor of getting all of the legal procedures in line for this service.  Mr. Eisenhart cautioned that all easements by the developers are in place before they build a sewer line. More discussion contined regarding pumping stations and possible usage by them and Mr. Eisenhart stated that the pumping station in this area was not designed to service this area due to the elevation of this area. Mr. Lee stated that the county is scheduled to have its treatment plant optimized to give us some water relief to go toward lifting the moratorium in 2005. Catherine Parks researched the area to see if it had been annexed and she said no. Mr. Eisenhart cautioned the board with regard to approving developments that go beyond the water/sewer service that the city defines and the difficulties with the building of private pumping stations.  Alderman Lenhart asked if the lines could be moved and Mr. Eisenhart stated that it has been in the past based on a higher pressure zone. Ms. Parks stated that those lines are looked at when you look at the comprehensive plan.  Ms. Parks stated that she would need to see a concept plan and have a preliminary meeting with DPW and engineering.  Ms. Rollins was willing to do this. 

Motion:  Alderman Lenhart moved to direct staff to meet with the applicant for the purpose of planning a sewege and water extension line from their property to Bowers Road and to look at  annexation provisions and to return back to the utility committee with recommendations in the future.  Seconded by Alderman Bill Hall. Alderman Ramsburg not present.