 FILE PHOTO: Gary Fern, Executive Director, Albemarle County Service Authority |
At their meeting October 1, 2008, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors heard a quarterly update from
Gary Fern
, Executive Director of the
Albemarle County Service Authority
which is the utility for public water and sewer in the County’s urban areas. Fern reported on sewer capacity for the Albemarle Place development and on the North Fork wastewater pump station project.
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On
Albemarle Place
, Fern described a September meeting between the ACSA, the new developer, Edens & Avant, their engineers, and the Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority (RWSA) to discuss “how to get wastewater flow from the Albemarle Place site to the Meadowcreek Interceptor.” According to Fern, the collaboration between all the parties and the City of Charlottesville has led to identification of a sewer line route running near the US Post Office facility.
Albemarle Place is a major mixed use, town center development on 65 acres wrapping around the Sperry Marine facility on Route 29 North starting at Hydraulic Road. The size of two Charlottesville downtown malls, the rezoning approved by Albemarle County in 2003 allows for 7-800 apartments, a large grocery store, parking garages, a theater, a hotel, and other retail shopping. The preliminary site plan was approved in August 2006, but development has been on hold waiting for adequate sewer capacity.
Fern told the Supervisors that it was his understanding that the Albemarle Place developers would be paying the costs for the sewer connection to the RWSA’s Meadowcreek Interceptor. In a
meeting on September 10, 2008
, the Supervisors were told that the sewer capacity would be in place and available when Edens & Avant is ready to move forward with the development. A separate upgrade of the capacity of the Meadowcreek Interceptor, necessary to support Albemarle Place, is scheduled to be completed by the RWSA by December 2009.
The
North Fork pump station
is a wastewater project on Route 29 North that will increase sewer capacity for the County’s growth area area around the Rivanna Station Military Base, the future North Pointe development, and the UVA Research Park. Fern said the preliminary engineering report would be completed in November 2008. The pump station, or stations, are expected to be built by 2010. Afterwards, the ACSA will decommission the Camelot Wastewater Treatment Plant and wastewater will be pumped to the Moores Creek facility in Charlottesville. Developments not already connected to Camelot, like the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) facility at the military base and the North Pointe development, are expected to use the new pump station.
Fern updated the Supervisors on recent meetings between ACSA staff, developer Wendell Wood, developer Richard Spurzem, the UVA Foundation, North Pointe, and the US Army. “It’s our intention that the developers will pay for their appropriate share of that particular project,” said Fern. “We have been meeting with them, talking over what their projected flows are going to be from now to buildout, and working through types of arrangements for payment.”
Brian Wheeler
