There was a good turnout for the first meeting between the Greater Seven Lakes Community Council [GSLCC] and the Moore County Board of Commissioners, and plenty of questions.
The Seven Lakes debate about incorporation simmered constantly just below the surface, but never really broke through. What did break through, somewhat surprisingly, in a forum devoted to Seven Lakes issues, was the Commissioners' internal debate about how to fund a new jail and public safety complex in downtown Carthage.
The GSLCC hosted the Commissioners in the West Side Park Community Center before a crowd of about 100 -- a sizable turnout for a summer afternoon meeting that the Council never really advertised as being open to the public. Along with all five Commissioners, county staff on hand included the county manager, assistant manager, attorney, public utilities director, assistant planning director, and clerk, along with Sheriff Lane Carter.
The meeting's agenda was set by a list of questions the council posed to the county, grouped into five areas: water, planning and zoning, security, incorporation, and the bond issue to fund the new public safety complex and detention center planned for downtown Carthage. We've broken the conversation about the last of those items out into a separate story, which you can read here .
County staff used PowerPoint slides to support their presentations; you can download a copy of those slides here .
Incorporation
Though it has been the hottest topic in Seven Lakes this Summer, incorporation was the issue the Board of Commissioners dealt with most quickly.
County Attorney Misty Leland had prepared an incorporation primer with detailed information on the process and the relevant state statutes that was available for meeting attendees to take away from the meeting [Download a copy here ].
"Incorporation is a question that Seven Lakes needs to answer for itself," Chairman Tim Lea said. Lea was the only member of the Board to address the issue.
"We will be glad to work with you on any direction you want to go in."
A member of the audience asked whether, if Seven Lakes incorporated and had its own police force, it would also need its own judge and jail.
"They all come to Carthage," Sheriff Carer replied, explaining that, in North Carolina, the state provides the judges and the county provides the jails.
Gates 'keep the bad guys out'
Carter was on hand to address the GSLCC's questions on whether Seven Lakes had a better or worse crime rate than the rest of the county -- and what factors lead to a higher crime rate.
"In Seven Lakes, the area you have, the gated community you have, it's a wonderful thing," the Sheriff said. "It keeps the bad guys out." That comment was met with sustained applause from the audience.
"When they have to go through gates, when they have to worry about somebody taking down their license plate number, they ain't coming," Carter added. "They are going out to some rural area of the county, out where no nobody is going to see them, to go in that man's barn and steal his John Deere lawnmower."
The Sheriff said his office received about 29,000 calls for service of all types in 2008 -- harassing phone calls to murders -- from a jurisdiction that includes 46,000 people. 502 of those calls, or 1.7 percent, came from Seven Lakes, which is home to roughly ten percent of the population for which the Sheriff's Office has responsibility.
The numbers were similar in 2009, with 28,000 total calls for service, of which 564 came from Seven Lakes.
Drugs a key factor in crimes
The Council had asked what makes crime more prevalent in some areas than in others. Carter said a key fact was drug use.
"People don't steal to feed their babies," the Sheriff said. "The government's going to help them do that . . . They steal to buy drugs."
"The areas that are prevalent with drugs is where your crime starts and it goes right down to the convenience store that gets robbed in the middle of the night."
Responding to information provided by the GSLCC that indicated only about eight percent of Seven Lakers obey the posted speed limits, Carter said "that's pretty much the case everywhere we go, ladies and gentlemen." He added that Seven Lakes is fortunate because special state legislation allows Sheriff's officers to enforce speed limits on Seven Lakes streets, which is not the case, for instance, in the gated community of Woodlake.
Though the Sheriff's office has 74 sworn officers, many of those are investigators, court officers, civil process servers, and jailers, Carter explained, leaving 28 patrol officers.
"We get over here when we can," the Sheriff said, noting that his office "works constantly" with Seven Lakes' community managers to schedule patrols by deputies. "But when you have robberies, break-ins, and drug dealers, speeding is a little down on the list. But we are going to do the very best we can."
Cleaning up the 'Flea Market'
The Seven Lakes Council had asked the county what could be done about the "flea market area" across from the Exxon station at the intersection of NC Highways 73 and 211 in West End.
Assistant Planning Director Debra Ensminger had the unenviable task of explaining why that use of the property persists, even though the county has not issued the permits that would be necessary to allow it. "It is currently an active zoning enforcement case," she noted.
Ensminger said the B-2 Business zoning of the parcel, on which vendors set up to sell everything from military surplus to steaks and seafood, would allow for such uses, given proper permits. However, she also said the county had issued no such permits for that property. She explained that the vendors selling items on the property would need to have $100 "Itinerant Merchant Licenses," also issued by the county. Finally, she noted that vendors aren't allowed to have items on the NC Department of Transportation right of way.
Though the county has attempted to enforce zoning and other regulations in the area, the planning department has only two code enforcement officers. Ensminger encouraged residents to call in complaints about the area to the Planning Department at 910-947-5010. "We are complaint driven," she said of the county's code enforcement efforts.
After the crowd continued to pepper Ensminger with questions about the lack of success the county has had enforcing regulation of the parcel, County Manager McSwain stepped in to commit to stepping up enforcement and trying to work with the property owner to rectify the problem. The one-third-acre triangular piece of land is owned by McNeill Oil Company of Aberdeen.
New Subdivisions
The Council had inquired about the status of new developments -- like Pine Forest and Stonehill Pines -- that are planned for western Moore County, asking about their effects on the environment, water supplies, and the housing market.
Ensminger explained that developers have the right to submit plans that meet the conditions of the county's subdivision audience; the market determines the merits of a particular proposal. Environmental impacts are regulated by both the state and federal governments, she said.
Securing water for new major developments is ultimately the responsibility of the developer, Ensminger explained. The county requires that developers provide and pay for the additional water capacity needed.
Public Utilities Director Dennis Brobst expanded on Ensminger's statement, noting that the county has required that Pine Forest, Stonehill Pines, and the Dormie Club developments all pay for water to supply their future residents.
"I will not allow my existing customers to purchase water for a new development," Brobst said, adding that the county has also required these developers to use reclaimed water for irrigation of both golf courses and residential lots in order to achieve great water conservation benefits.
More water for Seven Lakes?
Brobst's presentation [which is available for download here ] was the meeting's most extensive, as he took on the task of of answering the Council's questions about the county's ongoing water initiatives and whether any of those will bring more water to Seven Lakes.
He outlined three options for bringing additional water to the community: two that have been much talked about in the past and one new option.
The new option is likely the most expensive: to bring water from Harnett County, through the East Moore Water District and then through $3 million of new water mains running along NC Highway 73 from Eastwood to Gretchen Road, and then down Love Grove Church Road to connect with the existing Seven Lakes system.
The county already has a contract to purchase up to two million gallons of water per day from Harnett County, which will soon open a new 36 million gallon per day treatment plant on the Cape Fear River below Jordan Lake. Harnett is interested in selling the county a permanent stake in the plant, for $1.85 per gallon, which would guarantee that source of water.
Buying that interest in the Harnett County plant, along with installing new water mains and other infrastructure upgrades, would bring the total upfront cost of the project to $8 million, Brobst said. Owning an interest in the plant would likely guarantee a somewhat lower cost per thousand for water from that source, Brobst told The Times on Friday. He also noted that selling shares in the plant's capacity appears to be the only way that Harnett County plans to sell water to other counties and municipalities in the future.
Montgomery County & Robbins
More familiar options for bringing additional water to Seven Lakes include buying water from Montgomery County or buying water from the Town of Robbins.
Montgomery County water would be piped through yet-to-be-installed water mains from Candor to Seven Lakes, Brobst said. Those new pipes, along with some internal improvement to the Montgomery County system, are expected to cost $2.7 million. The developer of Pine Forest was at one point expected to pay for that improvement, but that deal continues to be tied up in negotiations that county staff could not comment on during the meeting.
Brobst said one disadvantage of Montgomery County as a source is that they want $2.60 per thousand gallons of water, significantly more than the $2.10 rate that the county recently negotiated with Southern Pines and Aberdeen.
The county has been negotiating with Robbins since the Spring of 2009 about the prospects for bringing the town's water plant back on line to supply water to both Robbins and county customers. Brobst said a proposal is expected from the town in September. Bringing water from Robbins to Seven Lakes would involve installing water main down NC Highway 705 and installing pump stations, since Seven Lakes is at a higher elevation.
Seven Lakes Water Usage
At present, almost all of Seven Lakes' water comes through a single water main connected to the Pinehurst system. Brobst said that pipe and the pump station in front of West Pine Middle School can supply approximately 1.05 million gallons per day. Maximum daily usage this Summer was 880,000 gallons on July 5; the top number in August thus far was 710,000 gallons.
The community is currently under no water conservation restrictions. Brobst, who is a resident of Seven Lakes West, said he believes his fellow landowners have become more sensitive to the need to conserve. He noted that he used to see automatic sprinklers running even during a rain shower, but now observes that folks turn them off when it rains.
Overall, the largest single day usage of water in the county system was 4.2 million gallons, on August 7, 2007, but an average winter's day's consumption is only 1.56 million gallons. That rises to an average of 2.7 million gallons in the Summer.
The county's water supply system, including its own wells and water purchased from Southern Pines, Aberdeen, and Harnett county through the East Moore Water District, can supply a total of 5.66 million gallons per day.
That production capacity will increase by 500,000 gallons per day when two new wells -- 5A and 9 -- come on line in Pinehurst, which Brobst said is expected by December. Well 6A, which is under contract to be drilled, could add another 129,000 gallons, as could Well 3A, which will be drilled near a new water tank that is under construction on Monticello Road in Pinehurst.
In addition to those capacity enhancements, the county is near completion of a computerized hydraulic model of its entire system, which Brobst said will greatly aid decision making about new lines and new water sources. Also underway is a $99,000, multi-year upgrade of the SCADA system the county uses to control its production wells and pump stations.
The county regularly monitors the level of water in the Middendorf aquifer, the underground water source that supplies its wells, Brobst said. A new water shortage response plan that was presented to the Board of Commissioners last week and is now out for public comment is tied to the aquifer level, as well as other drought indicators.
No Sewer for Seven Lakes
The Seven Lakes Council had asked whether the county has plans to extend sewer service to Seven Lakes, and the short answer from Brobst was "No."
"There are no plans to extend sewer into the Seven Lakes area," Brobst said, noting that it would be "phenomenally expensive." He added that the County's Environmental Health Department reports no unusual amount of septic failures in Seven Lakes. In fact, that department reports that the soils in Seven Lakes are well suited to septic systems.
"The main argument for extending sewer to Seven Lakes would be to get some more intense development in the business area," Brobst said, including larger restaurants and stores. He suggested that there may be other alternatives than connecting the area to the County's Addor wastewater treatment plant, but did not elaborate on what those alternatives might be.
Board welcomes future meetings
Thursday's meeting between the GSLCC and the Commissioners was scheduled as an alternative to having Seven Lakes represented "at the table" when the county meets with elected officials from its municipalities. Members of both groups appeared to feel the maiden voyage for the format had been a success.
Westside President Ron Shepard told The Times on Friday that he expected the joint meeting might become a twice-a-year event.
At the close of Thursday's meeting, Chairman Tim Lea made it clear that the County stands ready to schedule an encore.
"Whenever you would like us to come back," Lea said, "we would be more than happy to do that."
