Water.
That's the number one concern of the Greater Seven Lakes Community Council [GSLCC], as its members prepare for a meeting with the Moore County Board of Commissioners on Thursday, October 13.
The meeting is open to the public and will be held in the Great Room of the West Side Park Community Center, starting at 5:00 pm. It's the third such public meeting between the groups, something the Council hopes to make a regular semi-annual event. In the past, the Commissioners have been accompanied by a number of County department heads, primed to answer the Council's questions.
The GSLCC is made up of the Presidents of the Seven Lakes, Seven Lakes West, and McLendon Hills Landowners Associations, as well as the President of the Seven Lakes Business Guild. They laid out their questions for the county in an October 3 letter to Board of Commissioners Chairman Nick Picerno. [Download a copy here.]
At the top of the list are ten detailed questions about the county's efforts to bring more water to Seven Lakes. That objective is also at the top of the Commissioners' short-term goals for this year, and the Board is exploring at least a half-dozen options: from reviving the North West Moore Water District in order to bring water from Robbins to Seven Lakes, to purchasing an interest in water plant expansions in Harnett County or Asheboro.
In addition to asking for an update on those options, the Council wants to know what impact the options will have on water rates, whether the cost will be spread across all county users, and why the county can't just drill some new wells in Seven Lakes. They've also asked about the impact of selling the Pinehurst the portions of the County water system that serve that municipality, the affect that a new industrial park in the northern end of the County might have on Seven Lakes' water supply, and whether the recently rezoned Pine Forest development will affect water availability in Seven Lakes.
Though water is clearly the number one issue on the Council's agenda, they've also asked the Commissioners to explain how three other factors might affect Seven Lakes: the county budget, the redrawing of voting district lines, and changes in zoning or land use planning.
Previous meetings of the Council and Commissioners have provided and opportunity for the public to ask questions, and this session will be no exception. GSLCC Chairman Pete Dotto of McLendon Hills told The Times that the meeting will include a question and answer session.
