Callander: Who's entitled to public utilities?

One of the issues of the times here in Stafford is who should get public water and sewer service and who shouldn't be entitled to such modern niceties.

When local officials and community activists talk about "the USA" during county meetings, they aren¹t talking about the United States of America, they are talking about "the urban service area." Going hand in hand with that term is public water and sewer, because the county provides those services if you live within urban growth area boundaries.

Where to draw that boundary is the subject of ongoing debate because when the utilities department extends water and sewer lines to a new area of the county, two important things happen: a whole lot of taxpayer money is spent and new development occurs near the extended infrastructure.

Spending millions of dollars of taxpayer money is a concern for all of us. Most activists and officials agree that commercial and industrial development is the kind of growth we should promote at this time because it can contribute to the county¹s financial stability, whereas new residential development does not pay its own way and is a drain on county resources like schools.

Right now, existing homes are sitting on the market for too long and many are subject of foreclosure. Stafford, in fact, is No. 4 in Virginia with one in 221 housing units filing for foreclosure. Surely we don't need to build more homes in our county at this time, so as planners say, if you want to keep down new home starts, don't provide public water and sewer to undeveloped areas.

This is one reason there is such a debate going on about whether the board of supervisors should ignore the urban service area boundaries recommended by the planning commission and instead extend them to areas like The Roses in Rock Hill District.

"The Roses" is a term of convenience used to represent several rural residential neighborhoods (with names like Rosedale, Rosewood Estates and Rose Hill Farms), totaling about 600 homes (if you also include nearby subdivisions Ivyglen, The Estates and Country Wood Estates). Those homes were established with well and septic systems rather than public water and sewer.

Some of the septic systems have failed over the years and, in fact, eight households in the area utilize Stafford's "pump and haul" program, whereby the county contracts go in and empty out septic systems that fail to drain and then hauls off the waste.

Including The Roses in the urban service area of the new comprehensive plan would absorb about 26 million dollars to extend public water and sewer lines, according to early estimates by the utilities department.

That figure is particularly hard to swallow in these budget-challenging times. Yet, some supervisors, particularly Rock Hill's own Cord Sterling, are pushing the expansion of the urban services area in response to constituents' desires to have the reliability of the public system.

Manage growth advocates worry that the thrust for the expansion may also be designed to benefit builders who own land in areas that would be more desirable for development should urban services be extended.

Absent the county system, new technologies can help families to service their properties when traditional septic systems fail. Also, wells can be dug deeper if they fail to provide enough water. These alternatives save the county money but burden the homeowner.

State, federal and/or local grants and low interest loans could assist households in servicing those needs without totally burdening county taxpayers through extension of public water and sewer. Expanded grants and loans is something our elected officials should advocate.

Whether you live in a rural or urban area, you should have clean drinking water and sanitary sewage disposal, that¹s for sure. We should consider, though, that the process of putting in utility lines has its own environmental hazards. For example, the pipes leading to The Roses would run along Aquia Creek, requiring that vegetation protecting the creek be removed during construction.

Though it's easy to appreciate and get used to public water and sewer, urban living in the USA does have its drawbacks. Our officials should consider all of the impacts.

Alane Callander is a south Stafford resident active in many local causes. Reach her at staffordcountysun.com.