Anderson County approves $20 million bond issue for sewer program

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By Stan Welch
In a special called meeting last week the Anderson County Council took a major step in addressing the county’s infrastructure needs by approving a twenty million dollar bond issue to fund a sewer capital improvement program. The program includes three significant elements that affect the areas around exits 27 and thirty five along I-85. Exit 27 is the exit at Highway 81, an area that has seen considerable industrial growth in recent years, and is slated for more growth, both industrial and residential.
The plan includes the ‘mothballing’ of the Six and Twenty wastewater treatment plant, a decision that will save half of the projected eleven million dollar cost to upgrade the facility which is near capacity, and outdated in terms of equipment.

 

Closing the plant and diverting the flow to the Rocky River treatment plant would cost five and a half million dollars, as well as eliminating three pump stations from the system. The redirection would also serve to improve service to the Highway 81 area.
At exit 27, the Betsy Tucker project, which consisted of 3055 linear feet of eighteen inch line and the installation of 2343 linear feet of eight inch line, will be expanded to allow service to a proposed development of one hundred to one hundred twenty homes on Shacklesburg Road, as well as serving portions of some industrial sites along Orange Way.
The rights of way have been obtained to allow for the extension. Line A will consist of 925 linear feet of twelve inch line, at a cost $144,153, while an additional 497 feet of eighteen inch line will be installed to reach the residential area. Line D will consist of 575 feet of eight inch line to serve the industrial sites, at a cost of $57,443. The total cost of the entire project is $332,242.
At exit 35, or Highway 86 in the Piedmont area, a pump station will be replaced with 3800 feet of ten inch gravity fed sewer line. Aside from removing a troublesome, often repaired pump station, the new line will open an additional two hundred acres in the area to further development. The cost of this project is estimated at one million dollars.
Also during the special called meeting, the Council voted to take action to preserve the county’s legal position in the long lived case with Joey Preston. Preston recently suffered another defeat at the appellate level, but has the option to appeal to the Supreme Court.