FARMINGTON -- City Council last week rezoned 126 acres west of Double Springs Road from agricultural to residential but tabled a request from the owner to help pay some of the costs to extend a sewer line to the property.
Kevin Riggins with Red Canyon Development, owner of the property, is proposing to put in about 300 homes with houses ranging in size from 1,600 square feet to 3,000 square feet.
Farmington Planning Commission recommended Riggins' request to rezone the property at its Dec. 18 meeting. At that time, Riggins said he had owned the land for 13 years.
The Council approved rezoning the land to R-1, which is for single-family homes only and requires a minimum of 10,000 square feet per lot. Council members suspended the rules to adopt the rezoning ordinance in one meeting, instead of over three separate meetings.
No one objected to the rezoning request but one property owner from adjacent Silverthorne II had some questions about how the new development could affect property values in Silverthorne. Red Canyon's land is south of Silverthorne II.
Mayor Ernie Penn told the woman the best forum to ask questions and express concerns would be when the Farmington Planning Commission considers the preliminary plat submitted for the subdivision.
Riggins said he is just in the beginning stages of planning. Currently, the property is mainly pasture land.
David Jorgensen with Jorgensen & Associates engineering firm of Fayetteville presented Red Canyon's request for the city to help pay some of the costs of a sewer line extension. Jorgensen said cost sharing projects are common in other cities.
Red Canyon's development will require a sewer extension of 1,220 feet to connect to the city's lift station on Double Springs Road. It only needs an eight-inch diameter line but an engineering study for Farmington's lift station recommends 15-inch lines to serve all areas in the drainage basin, Jorgensen told City Council members.
He said that a 15-inch line would allow for future growth.
Preliminary costs from Jorgensen show a 15-inch line for 1,220 feet would cost about $70 per linear feet for $85,400. The estimated total cost for the project is $240,000, and the project would require eight manholes, two street bores, two creek crossings and other expenses.
Jorgensen said an eight-inch line would cost around $40 per linear foot, $48,800 for 1,220 feet, a cost difference of about $40,000, compared to a 15-inch line. This difference is for the pipe only, Jorgensen said. The 15-inch line also would cost more because it needs larger holes bored underneath Double Springs Road, he added.
Red Canyon is asking the city to pay one-half the costs of the total project for a 15-inch line, about $125,000.
Penn told Council members he sees the advantages of upgrading the line from 8-inch to a 15-inch pipe but also said he did not want the Council "to get hung up on paying one-half the cost. That's their request."
Jorgensen said Red Canyon is asking the city to share the costs because the development will bring in new sewer customers to help pay off the city's sewer debt for its lift station and other improvements.
Farmington households pay a surcharge of $3.19 per 1,000 gallons to pay off the sewer debt. The city's monthly sewer debt payment to Arkansas Natural Resources Commission is $24,000, according to business manager Melissa McCarville. The sewer debt surcharge is bringing in around $18,000 each month. McCarville said the city makes up the difference from the general fund.
Penn explained that when the city applied for its loan from Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, the payment was based on anticipated growth of new customers. Housing has been stagnant for years and is just now starting to pick up, Penn said.
Jorgensen said he planned to approach the city of Fayetteville about cost sharing on another 2,000 feet of sewer line for a second development to go in on the other side of Double Springs Road. Fayetteville has indicated it is interested in helping but Jorgensen didn't know how much.
Fayetteville may be willing to help with some of the costs to bring the sewer line from the lift station, Jorgensen said. Another question, he wondered, would be if households in the new Fayetteville development should also pay Farmington's surcharge since they will be using Farmington's lift station.
The Council then decided to table the cost share request and wait and see what information Jorgensen gathered from his meeting with Fayetteville officials.
Before the meeting closed, Council member Keith Lipford told his fellow colleagues he believed Red Canyon should be responsible for costs for an 8-inch line since that would benefit the development and the city's share possibly could be for the costs to upgrade to a 15-inch line.
General News on 01/17/2018