Virginia Shore officials to seek state money for regional sewer project

State legislators plan to ask for money in the next biennial budget to advance a regional sewer project on the Eastern Shore.

Delegate Rob Bloxom said he pushed to schedule a meeting of town and county officials "now (rather) than later," saying localities "need to join the Hampton Roads Sanitation District sooner than later if I am going to go to Richmond and sell anything."

Legislators have a deadline of mid-January to submit budget amendment requests, according to Bloxom, who added, "We need to push forward quickly."

Money from the state could help solve the problem of existing debt related to wastewater treatment plants on the Eastern Shore, including $4.5 million for Onancock's facility, which could stymie the regional project.

The Hampton Roads Sanitation District, if the plan advances, would build a $25 million pipeline in the project's first phase, said Steve Johnsen, steering committee chairman.

The committee has been working on the project for around 18 months.

Sen. Lynwood Lewis at the Oct. 24 meeting called regional sewer service "a big deal," saying, "This needs to happen, so we need to figure out a way to make it work."

Lewis cautioned that requesting a budget amendment "is a competition," adding, "Can you imagine out of the 136 counties and cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia who wants $4 or $5 million?"

The next step in the process is for Accomack and Northampton counties and the incorporated towns to petition the Circuit Court, asking to be added to the sanitation district's service area — a process officials said could take up to six months.

The Hampton Roads Sanitation District serves 18 counties and cities in southeast Virginia, including a population of 1.7 million.

Operating agreement negotiations can go on during the same period, said Jeff Holland, a member of the steering committee.

Petitioning the court to be included in the service area does not obligate a locality to participate in the project, but keeps the option open, according to the Oct. 24 presentation.

They would like to hear from the towns to indicate their support for the project by Dec. 31, Holland said.

The Northampton and Accomack County attorneys will draft a template resolution for towns to consider using, which can be modified, he said.

"I don't know why any town would want to opt out, because it's voluntary for anything past that; so I would just think that everyone would ride together on the same bus to try to get the whole Eastern Shore in — that would be my suggestion," Bloxom said.

Exmore is going through a process "to evaluate is this the best solution for the town ... That's an Exmore decision," Holland said, adding the regional project would not be impacted if Exmore decides not to participate.

Onancock facility key

Onancock's treatment plant is key to the first phase of the project, which would include the area between Nassawadox and Accomac. Future phases could address northern Accomack, including Chincoteague, and southern Northampton, including Cape Charles, according to the presentation.

Onancock's plant is running at around one third of its capacity of 750,000 gallons per day, Holland said, adding, "We've got 30 years of growth in that basic system."

An Onancock sewer transmission line steering committee appointed in August has met three times, with another meeting scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 7, at 10 a.m. at the Onancock town hall.

Subcommittees for operations, finance, and legal and procedural matters were established and are working toward completing a report by the end of January, according to Vice Mayor Bob Bloxom, committee chairman.

“There is certainly a groundswell of interest at this point,” Bloxom said at the Onancock Town Council meeting on Oct. 28. He noted the large number of questions asked at the regional meeting.

“A key component of this for all involved — and not just Onancock — is finding a creative way to deal with Onancock’s debt,” Bloxom said, adding, “Our two representatives, our state senator and our representative, made it clear that they were willing to do their best to get an appropriation into next year’s budget.”

That makes is “all the more important that we move toward the petition of the Circuit Court,” Bloxom said.

“I really did not hear any downside to us participating” in the petition, he said, calling it “critically important” to getting state funding.

If the petitions are approved, the town is “not obligated to anything at that point, other than the possibility of negotiating with HRSD (Hampton Roads Sanitation District), if that’s the will of this council after our committee does its work and makes a presentation,” Bloxom said.

Councilwoman Maphis Oswald called the timeline presented at the regional meeting “a big step forward.”

The timeline called for construction of the pipeline to start in spring 2021. The project is expected to take about two years to complete.

One of the main tasks for Onancock's operations subcommittee is “to get good, solid estimates of the capital improvements that the town would have to make for the sewer plant over the next five to seven years,” Bloxom said.

There were no bidders in response to a request for proposal the town put out two weeks ago for an engineering company to determine that information. The town plans to make another request, with a longer turnaround time, in hopes of getting a firm to take on the task.

“I feel like we need independent verification of those expenditures,” Bloxom said, adding “…That engineering piece is going to be critical to the other modeling we are going to do.”

Bloxom said he has set a deadline of the end of January to complete the committee’s work.

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