Washington to finance sewer project

The Washington City Council voted unanimously to allocate $125,000 to a sewer-boring project in a 44-acre subdivision along Country Club Road.

“The sanitary sewer available to the property is too shallow for residential development,” a memo to the council from City Clerk Sally Hart and Finance Director Kelsey Brown said. “We have identified an area where by boring 650 feet of new sewer, we would be able to deepen sewer access to the property by 10 feet, allowing for broad development.”

While the Tuesday night vote was unanimous, the proposal started in late July as a controversial use of the city’s COVID-19 on a privately owned and undeveloped subdivision.

“I will admit that initially, I was against this,” Council member Illa Earnest said. “But having thought about it and gotten more information, I think it would be a very valuable thing to do for the city.”

Council member Steve Gault, who made the motion approving the funds, was its most vocal critic when it was first brought to the council, calling it a development for the “mega-rich” at that time.

“I was not given all of the facts to start with, and I am very sorry for that,” Gault said. “I made a decision off of the facts that I had, but I agree with Illa. I think it’s something that we definitely need.”

Land developer Jeff Hazelett of Elliott Realty said he had been in one-on-one talks with city officials explaining the need for municipal investment, which he said would open 44 acres of mixed-income residential lots.

“In a 10-, 20-, 30-year period, this whole area has the potential to be 70 lots. That’s a big deal for Washington, and they weren’t aware of some of that information,” Hazelett said in an interview in July. “Getting this sewer from where it is now to where it’s going to go, that opens up this entire area. This is a piece of ground that has been basically undevelopable until now … $121,000 to open up 60, 70 or 80 lots, it’s an easy one.”

Brown said development of the subdivision would still involve tax increment financing, a financing method previously discussed to fund it, but would use only money from COVID-19 relief measures for the sewer boring.

Although council members previously voiced broad support for proposals from former City Administrator Brent Hinson such as water main repairs on West Madison Street, the investment along Country Club Road is the only COVID-19 relief spending it’s approved so far.