Water taps on vacant lots to require 10-year commitment

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  • The Hartwell Sun
    The Hartwell Sun
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Owners of vacant lots looking to tap on to county water will now have to make a long-term commitment.
The Hart County Water and Sewer Authority unanimously passed a motion at its regular meeting Monday, Aug. 19, that requires property owners of vacant lots asking for county water services to sign a 10-year commitment letter.
The motion followed a request for water service from several people who recently bought property and are planning on building in the Bethany-Bowersville Road area. Several of the future residents attended the meeting and said they would be willing to sign commitment letters.
Director Pat Goran said the commitment, similar to the basic one-year residential commitment or the 10-year poultry operation commitment, will require property owners to pay the minimum monthly base fee for 10 years if the county decides to add water lines that the resident can then tap onto. The base fee, subject to change, is $20 per month for a 3/4 inch tap, which is the basic residential tap size.
If the property is sold or transfers owners within that commitment period, then the new owner will be responsible for honoring the commitment as it will be tied to the property deed.
Goran said there have been issues in the past involving vacant lots and potential builders making commitments just to get a county water line built on the road.
“We had folks in the Rock Springs area, we had a big project up there a couple years ago, there was one guy in particular that I think signed up for four taps,” Goran said. “I think he has one active account where he lives but he owns three other lots and he just agreed to pay for three more taps and pay our base fee for a year on those three lots just to make water go down that road basically.”
In other business:
• Goran told the board the authority is about “80 to 90 percent done” with changing out meters for the radio-read retrofit and meter replacement project.
• The board passed a motion 5-0 to propose Alan Smith as the grant writer and EMI as the engineering company for the 2020 Community Development Block Grant application, which they will present to the board of commissioners.