Town tinkers with tap fee timeline

The town of Culpeper is tinkering with the timeline for pre-paid water and sewer tap connection reservations.

If you want to buy them, you’re going to have to use them.

Long in the works, the new policy would allow builders and developers three years to activate connections — once paid for — to the town utilities.

If after three years the water and sewer connections have not been made, the town could take back the utility reservation and refund the tap fee amount, minus a 15 percent “administrative fee.”

At Town Council’s recent Water and Sewer Committee meeting, the tap policy issue was revisited, and the committee seemed ready to move on it.

“This policy gives us an opportunity to do something we think is fair,” said Town Manager Jeff Muzzy.

Added Chris Hively, director of environmental services, “It puts everybody on even footing and maximizes the use of our facilities.”

They referred to situations in the recent past, when at the height of growth, large developers reserved connections to the town’s water and sewer. But in many cases, the reservations were made prior to payment or actual building.

By July of 2007, such commitments had tied up more than 2 million gallons per day of capacity to the point that the town was turning away other, perhaps smaller entities desiring access to its utilities.

Yet, former Town Manager Brannon Godfrey stood by his policy — if capacity was already committed to planned projects, the town couldn’t just arbitrarily reassign it elsewhere without facing possible legal repercussions.

In the process, the town, feeling its utilities were being stretched to the limit, committed to a massive $27 million expansion to its sewer treatment plant.

Godfrey’s way of doing things in the water and sewer arena caused consternation among some Town Council members, especially when the county approached the town about purchasing 200 tap connections and was told the town didn’t have any more capacity.

“We have this list of projects that may or may not happen,” said Councilman Chip Coleman at the time. “To reserve all this capacity for some list that hasn’t put up any money doesn’t make any sense to me.”

It didn’t make sense to members of the Water and Sewer Committee either, who recommended at its recent meeting that a change in policy, erasing the past, go to Town Council at its regular meeting July 14.

As part of the proposal, developers and builders currently holding taps they’ve paid for will have five years to use them after which time the town could take back the reservation. In the case of existing, pre-paid tap reservations, the town would refund the money minus a 2 percent administrative fee.

Pre-paid taps held by six different projects account for 66 reservations on the water side and 56 on the sewer side, according to town records.

Another 545 water and sewer taps, not yet purchased, are reserved — per Godfrey’s policy — in 10 developments under construction.

Add to that 2,000 lots approved in 11 developments in which building has not yet started — and in one case, gone bankrupt — and it’s easy to see how so much of the town’s capacity is tied up, and yet not in use.

Muzzy invited the community to weigh in on the proposed change in policy, which some committee members felt wasn’t stringent enough.

“Thirty-six months is too long,” said Councilman Mike Olinger of the proposed allowance for new, pre-paid customers to hook up their taps. “I would like to see more like 30 months. We already have a situation with all of these reserved taps and yet nothing is going on.”

Councilman Steve Jenkins agreed, saying the town needed to expedite the process of making actual water and sewer connections.

“I lean more toward 24 months,” he said at the recent committee meeting, “because it is an obvious problem.”

Jenkins added that the development community “can come to us” if it wanted to weigh in on the change. “I think now is the time to act.”

Muzzy said it might not be a bad idea to hold a public hearing on the matter, though one is not required.