The Greater Seven Lake Community Council [GSLCC] met with the Moore County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, March 8 to discuss water, zoning, the county budget, and road standards in private communities.
Though the Council also wanted to weigh in on the proposed Pine Forest subdivision, County Attorney Misty Leland told Council members and the audience that the Board of Commissioners could not receive any comments or questions pertaining to the Pine Forest development because quasi-judicial public hearings are still underway. The next Pine Forest hearing is scheduled for a Special Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, March 29 at 5 pm in Carthage.
Seven?Lakes Water
In response to Council questions, Public Works Director Dennis Brobst laid out three water supply options for Seven Lakes.
The first option is to simply continue to use the one million gallons per day water piped from Pinehurst to Seven Lakes through a water main that parallels NC Highway 21. Though this is adequate to meet Seven Lakes’ needs on most days, on peak irrigation days in the Summer, Seven Lakers have consumed more than 800,000 gallons per day. Without some additional supply, Brobst said, the Seven Lakes community could “tap out” of water.
The county has expanded the supply of water produced in Pinehurst with new wells 5A, 6A, and 3A. Water supply management will be enhanced through a newly completed computerized SCADA system that can report exactly where improvements are needed, so the community can get the “biggest bang for the buck” said Brobst.
A second option for providing more water to Seven Lakes is to extend a water line down NC Highway 73 from the Dormie Club, another private community, to Seven Lakes. That $1.5 million upgrade would provide some redundancy to the NC Highway 211 water line, Brobst said, but would would not actually increase the amount of water available in the overall system.
Northwest Moore Water District
The third solution is to incorporate Seven Lakes into the Northwest Moore Water District [NMWD] which would consist of the Ritter, Deep River, Sheffield, Bensalem townships and, possibly, the Town of Robbins.
When it was first launched, several years ago, the NMWD failed to attract enough sign-ups for county water in the mostly rural area of Northern Moore County. Only four hundred homes responded.
Commissioner Craig Kennedy, who lives in the Robbins area said he felt, today, more people would be interested, “I live in the area, and it will be a door to door effort this time around,” assured Kennedy.
Kennedy’s assurances did not stop Business Guild President Darrell Marks from questioning the County’s motives for wanting to incorporate Seven Lakes into the NMWD. He asked whether Seven Lakes was being included “just so this project can become viable?” Marks also questioned what the cost to Seven Lakes would be to join such an “unknown” endeavor.
John Goodman, Infrastructure Director for the Seven Lakes West Landowners Association, told the Commissioners that Marks’ skepticism didn’t represent the feelings of the entire Seven Lakes Community.
“I don’t want you to think, listening to Mr. Marks, [that] we are against the NMWD,” Goodman said, noting that others think it would be a good idea to join the District.
Commissioner Larry Caddell defended the idea of expanding the water district, saying a long term water solution is needed. “I have sat here for four years,” he said, “and I am sick of twiddling my thumbs.”
Commissioners’ Chairman Nick Picerno said the State or North Carolina had already begun to restrict the withdrawal of groundwater from public utility system wells further east in the state, and could restrict well water consumption in Pinehurst at some point. With no source of surface water in the county system Picerno said the potential for an intake on the Deep River near Robbins may be the most important long-term opportunity for expanding Moore County’s water supply.
Picerno said the county would determine what impact joining the Northwest Moore Water District would have on Seven Lakes water rates “down to the penny” and have a voter referendum before making Seven Lakes part of the NMWD.
Director Brobst reminded the Council that the idea of expanding the Water District is still in its early stages. The first step in creating a NMWD is to work out a plan with Robbins which has yet to happen.
An extension of a $16 million USDA bond for the project was approved three weeks ago. Those funds could be used to build a new water treatment plant in Robbins and a water line to carry water to Seven Lakes.
County Budget and Taxes
The County has saved taxpayers $700,000 in tax office expenses by choosing to delay a revaluation of property in the county, Chairman Nick Picerno told the GSLCC.
“You have a very conservative Board, and we want to make sure every penny is spent very wisely,” he said, adding that the County expense budget has shrunk from $90 million to $85 million. Currently property taxes make up about sixty percent or $53 million of the total $85 million budget. The County is sponsoring a series of public input sessions on the budget in the coming weeks — and a public hearing on the FY 2011-2012 budget will be held on Tuesday, June 7.
The recession has pushed down revenue from sales taxes, but County Manager Cary McSwain said he believes that this trend has bottomed out and is now on the rise mainly due to tourism being up in Moore County. The outlook is “getting more and more optimistic,” he said.
McSwain said budget cuts over the past two years have eliminated the “fat” in the county budget; and, if it becomes any leaner, it will begin to affect services such as the Veterans Affair program which generates about $6 million a year for county veterans, or the Women Infant and Children’s Program that helps people who are “desperate.”
Those interested in learning how the County Government operates can register for free Government 101 courses online at www.moorecountync.gov or call 910-947-6363. Classes begin April 4 and are located at the Old Courthouse in Carthage.
Substandard Private Roads
The Council asked the Commissioners to consider implementing a development ordinance that would require private roads in any new subdivisions to meet NC Department of Transportation standards.
Planning Director Joey Raczkowski reported that the County’s current subdivision ordinance does in fact require that private streets in new subdivisions meet NCDOT standards, though he was uncertain about exactly when that language had been added to the ordinance.
Raczkowski initially told the Council that the restricitve language dates to the late 1980s or early 1990s. But GSLCC President Pete Dotto reported that McLendon Hills strets, which were developed in the mid-1990s, do not appear to meet NCDOT standards.
Raczkowski promised further research on the question.
