April 19, 2006

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            The motion was a compromise suggested by Commissioner Velma Boyd-Lawson for Commissioner Margaret Stinnett’s motion that tied the reduction to stage 2 water conservation restrictions. Commissioner Frank Drake added the water conservation language.

            Commissioners Stephen Barrington and David Camacho, who both said they favored the direction of the lengthy discussion, voted no, saying they wanted to hear from some professionals and other interested people before cutting the building permits. The town imposed the 50-permit restriction in 2002 to conserve water while it decided whether to allow Raleigh to purchase the water and sewer systems or build a water intake on the Neuse River and expand the water treatment plant.

            Stinnett led off: “We just approved the minutes from a March meeting where we had a water workshop” (that said the town should do one or more of three things: cut the building permits, purchase more water from Raleigh or educate customers to use water more wisely).

            “We’re not making a move to doing any of these things,” Stinnett said. “Is it a water problem or a growth problem? It’s a both problem. You can’t have growth without water.” Stinnett also said the drought is a widespread problem. Raleigh has asked the town not to undertake its own water conservation ordinance and wait for the recommendation from its committee. But Stinnett noted there has been no action taken in Raleigh.

            She, with the help of Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell, had calculated the number of homes that can be built in the next four years. “We can approve 3,500 more customers between now and 2010.”

            According to the spreadsheet Planning Director Chip Russell gave out at the comprehensive planning committee Tuesday morning, the town has approved 4,810 homes that could be built in the remainder of 2006 and through the end of 2009.

            The merger agreement by which Raleigh took ownership of the water and sewer systems specifies Wake Forest has a peak water use of 4.91 million gallons a day until April 1 of 2010, when the allocation increases by 4 percent annually.

            This past summer, Wake Forest water customers used 3.8 mgd on the peak day, leaving only 1.1 mgd available. Russell said last month that would allow 800 homes to be built each year. The building rates for 2004 and 2005 hovered around 1,000 homes each year.

            Mayor Vivian Jones asked attorney Eric Vernon whether he was still of the opinion the town could not reduce the number of permits in subdivisions now under construction.

            Vernon replied that even the experts – fellow attorneys in his law office and officials with the state and the Institute of Government – were not sure whether granting a water allocation/building permit was discretionary, and therefore less binding, or proprietary, much more binding. If it was discretionary, the town could not be sued for contractual liability. He will continue to investigate an answer.

            Jones said the board had agreed during its January planning retreat to approve no more than 800 homes a year for the next four years. “Are we going to limit permits to 800 a year and how are we going to do it?” Jones said they cannot limit the number of homes if they continue to approve subdivisions.

            Looking at Stinnett, Camacho said, “I share your concern about being proactive. But from Eric’s comments, I am not sure how proactive we can be. How early before the train jumps the track can we take some alternative action to avoid the train wreck?”

            “If Eric is right, we have no excuse. We will be compelled to pay whatever Raleigh demands,” Drake said. “It’s as if the first step to go on a diet is to buy bigger pants. I don’t want to buy more water. We have over-promised, and we must deliver or be sued.”

            Jones said she is on a blue ribbon committee about the future of Wake County that is examining all infrastructures from parks to highways. “There is a shortfall in every area of infrastructure. The only item all the experts say does not have a shortfall is water and sewer. We have enough through 2030.”

            Raleigh certainly agrees there is enough water, Town Manager Mark Williams said, since it has already approved a 1.5 mgd water allocation for Wendell to serve a new 4,000-unit subdivision.

            “Even if we weren’t in a drought,” Williams said, “the base problem is still there. We will be running out of water by 2010 if we keep developing as we are now. The drought is just a side issue.” He said the restriction on building permits could stand by itself – Drake had been arguing it needed to be tied to the mandatory stage 2 conservation – “It has nothing to do with water conservation.”

            Camacho agreed, saying the peak use can be changed more by changing the way people use water. He also recounted the water conservation measures discussed during the comprehensive planning committee earlier that day.