By ELENA MARSH
Staff Writer
The Moore County Board of Commissioners is juggling a few major ongoing projects within the county’s water system, while at the same time making long-range plans for expanding its future supply to accommodate growth.
During a meeting of the board’s Water and Sewer Task Force, board Chair Kurt Cook and Vice Chair Nick Picerno worked through next steps regarding stormwater concerns in the Seven Lakes business district and waterline installations in Vass.
The community of Seven Lakes in western Moore County is known for its collection of lakes that the neighborhoods are built around. However, the community lacks sewer and sufficient stormwater systems, so heavy rains can cause minor flooding issues, especially within the community’s business district.
Stormwater can sometimes hang around for days, flooding streets and threatening infrastructure, said Mark Stwart, who owns West End-based Stewart Construction and Development Co.
“There is no drainage in Seven Lakes,” said Stewart in a presentation to the task force. “It is all surface drain. People in Seven Lakes down Grant and Trade (streets) during a heavy rainstorm are getting a tremendous amount of water that they are having to deal with, and it is affecting homeowners.”
To remedy the problem, Picerno floated the possibility of creating a sewer sanitary district in which the county can charge for sewer service in the business district, and at the same time fix the roads and put in stormwater and sewer lines.
“Because that is where the businesses are going to if we are going to have any growth,” said Picerno, who lives in a nearby development. “Every time we do have rain you might as well go in and rebuild the road, because you can’t drive through there.”
With the N.C. 211 widening project estimated to be completed in October 2027, according to recent updates from Public Works Director Brian Patnode, commissioners see this as the perfect time to overhaul the outdated and somewhat lackluster infrastructure of the Seven Lakes business district.
Next steps would be to petition the state to allow for a sanitary district. North Carolina sanitary districts are authorized by the General Assembly to provide wastewater services within defined areas. There are a little fewer than 50 sanitary districts in the state.
“That is where common sense comes in,” said Picerno. “Now is the time to do it, when you already have all the equipment out there.”
On the other side of the county, a water infrastructure project in Vass might lead to a cost-share agreement between developers and the county to put in new water lines. Right now, there are 409 homes approved for Vass over the next 36 to 48 months. When developers showed an interest in developing single-family, multi-family and townhomes in the Vass area, a fire protection analysis showed insufficient water flow.
“That is mainly due to the age and the material of these water lines in Vass,” said Patnode, who estimates the plumbing to be between 50 and 70 years old.
The county received a grant from the state to assess the condition of water lines in town. The money will be used to create a priority list of the worst spots and what needs to be replaced.
There are some 6-inch cast iron pipes in the town that have undergone tuberculation. a build-up of bacteria-metabolized iron in the pipes. It is generally unharmful but can cause the pipes to function poorly and the water to have a poor taste. There are some of these pipes in older parts of Pinehurst as well as Vass.
To help speed the process, developers were interested in going outside of Vass to the Eastmoore Water District to get more water pressure. There is a high pressure zone by Thurlow Lake Road that is over 1 mile away.
“So the question came up, does the county have a program where we can help a developer share any sort of cost on a waterline that is planned for replacement in the future?” said Patnode.
The county was interested in the idea. Proposed criteria to create a cost share with developers could be based on age, material, condition and useful remaining life of the system.
Commissioners were interested in how the idea of a cost-share system could benefit residents more quickly as well as create a tax base in the new development that would offset the cost as they moved in.
“And that is our ultimate goal, to get all of these lines replaced,” said Patnode.
Contact Elena Marsh at (910) 693-2484 or elena@thepilot.com.
