LCWSC and PRTC are negotiating over a piece of property that could be used to bring sanitary sewer services to the main business district in Gray Court.
The Laurens County Water and Sewer Commission board has authorized Executive Director Jeff Field to talk to PRTC* representatives on a not-to-exceed $30,000 basis for .77 acres, adjacent to a tele-communications tower in the town. If LCWSC buys the land, it will use the tract for a large septic tank and a drain field with plans, eventually, for sewer lines leading out of town toward I-385. LCWSC owns the water system in Gray Court, but the town relies on individual septic tanks for its sanitary sewer system. Gray Court is home to the massive ZF Transmissions plant, the new Fox Creek subdivision, and Gray Court-Owings Elementary School. Since working with the town on water service, LCWSC has become much more involved in helping the town plan and execute events, also.
By mid-October, LCWSC expects all permits to be issued for the potential sewer system, with installation in the late 1st to early 2nd quarter of next year. Field said PRTC is willing to negotiate this land because it see this as “a community project.”
Money from the town and utility credits can make this project happen, Field said.
The negotiation approval came at the LCWSC board’s Sept. 22 meeting, with members questioning Field about whether or not this would set a precedent for the water and sewer utility. He said projects of this kind would be rare, but he could envision something like this happening on the shores of Lake Greenwood. “We have engineered projects like this at the lake, Hwy 72 at the bridge,” Field said. “It would be more expensive than this but, with a plan in place, we could do something with it at some point.”
Other projects, like RV parks, have something similar installed, at their own expenses, board members said.
Schools are another potential site, in addition to downtown Gray Court and commercial developments at Lake Greenwood, Field said. It would all depend on making the finances work, he said.
In other business at its regular meeting, the LCWSC board approved a resolution to apply $1 Million in accumulated, unspent grant funding to reducing bonded debt. The affected General Obligation Bonds date from June, 2024, to another issue about a year later.
LCWSC also is studying its future capacity fees - what is charged to developers when they apply for water service, and sometimes sewer service, taps. The fee is designed to lock in “the capacity” of the water system to service the development under construction and after build-out. The utility is working with consultant Frank Davis to determine fair numbers to charge developers, based on what LCWSC future demand and capacity might be.
Field said water-sewer utilities have charged these fees for many years, but now some cities and counties make the same kinds of charges, called Impact Fees.
The City of Clinton charges Impact Fees with the proceeds dedicated to Police and Fire equipment, and future recreation.
Fast-growing Fountain Inn has impact fees.
The Laurens County government also is studying Impact Fees, for residential developers.
The new capacity fees would go into effect Jan. 1, 2027.
For LCWSC, capacity fees date to 2013, when the utility bought 1.7M gallons of capacity from the Greenville Water System. This supplements, in Northern Laurens County, the water the LCWSC once purchased from Laurens and Clinton, and generates now with its own Lake Greenwood Water Treatment Plant.
These fees have been around since 1999, and passage of the SC Development Impact Fees Act - water/sewer is exempt from most of the act’s provisions, which apply primarily to cities and counties. It is a balancing act - making sure smart-growth is not stifled, but also ensuring that public services are kept abreast of growth (some SC school districts have gone to Impact Fees where so many houses are proposed that schools could become over-crowded).
LCWSC’s capacity fees are below average for the state, the board was told.
An individual building a house would be a water-only customer and would not be subject to a wastewater capacity fee — those sewer fees are paid by developers of subdivisions installing sewer lines and connecting to the utility’s sewer transmission line.
“You may see more Impact Fees throughout the county - a County fee or an increase in the Clinton or Fountain Inn fee,” Field said. The LCWSC capacity fee will be subject to a Public Notice, and likely will be effective on Jan. 1, the board was told.
The overall development of subdivisions in Laurens County seems to be leveling off. That is reflected in the number of in-subdivision water lines being donated (after passing inspection) to the LCWSC. The number of taps-installed outside of subdivisions remains strong, however. Last month, the utility billed 18,700 accounts.
*PRTC = Piedmont Rural Telephone Company.
