Why property owners won’t spend a dime on this $18 million Lacey sewer project
The city of Lacey is set to embark next year on its first major septic-to-sewer conversion project, an $18 million undertaking that will connect more than 400 lots at Capitol City Golf Club Estates to city sewer lines.
That’s a community in Lacey’s urban growth area that dots Capitol City golf course.
But this is not your typical sewer project.
When a new sewer line is installed, the city typically extends the infrastructure down the street with the understanding that the property owner on septic will have to pay a fee — a fee that can cost thousands of dollars — to connect to that pipe.
In this case, the city is not requiring that step but instead will pay for the whole thing. Eventually, though, the city wants to be reimbursed for the septic-to-sewer project, and future projects, possibly by charging a fee to all Lacey water and sewer customers. That is still to be determined.
“How future projects of this kind should be paid for is a subject that still requires much discussion,” Councilman Lenny Greenstein said in an email to The Olympian.
But the city is asking those golf course residents to agree to be annexed into the city of Lacey in exchange for the free sewer connection.
City officials defend the decision to pay for the entire project because recent testing of well water in the area has shown an increase in nitrate linked to septic tanks. It is not at a harmful level, but it could get worse if left unchecked.
Nitrate is a compound that is formed naturally when nitrogen combines with oxygen or ozone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nitrogen is essential for all living things, but high levels of nitrate in drinking water can be dangerous to health, especially for infants and pregnant women, its website reads.
“One of our basic responsibilities as a city is to provide safe, reliable drinking water to our residents and our other water customers,” Councilwoman Carolyn Cox told The Olympian. “We know that the city well within the Capitol City Golf Club Estates neighborhood contains nitrate at levels that require a stepped-up monitoring schedule.”
Septic tanks in the Lacey area
There are about 10,000 septic tanks in use in Lacey and its urban growth area — about 1,500 in the city and 8,500 in the UGA, including the 400 at Capitol City Golf Club Estates, city water resources manager Peter Brooks said.
City officials say the plan to convert all of those septic users to sewer likely will take decades, but is needed to protect groundwater and surface water.
Recent testing of Well No. 4, which serves the southwest corner of the city, including the golf course residents, has shown elevated levels of nitrate, Brooks said.
Up to 2 milligrams of nitrate per liter of water in a septic-tank environment is considered typical, he said. At 4 milligrams, communities need to start planning how to address the increase, he said, citing Thurston County health rules. At 10 milligrams, the state will step in and require a fix. The golf course well has tested at 4 milligrams and above, sometimes reaching 7 milligrams, Brooks said.
Traces of artificial sweeteners, which do not break down at all in the environment, also have shown up in test results, he said.
The presence of sweeteners is “indicative of the fact that wastewater is a component of the contamination in the well,” Brooks said.
Deputy Mayor Cynthia Pratt told The Olympian that when she first ran for Lacey City Council, water quality was an important issue for her.
“We just can’t afford to have our drinking water damaged,” she said.
How Lacey will pay for it
The city expects to spend $7.1 million in 2020, $9.1 million in 2021 and $1.3 million in 2022 on the septic-to-sewer project. General fund revenue could potentially be used to cover the first-year costs, city finance director Troy Woo said.
But after that, the city wants to come up with a funding mechanism that will generate about $2.5 million a year in revenue to cover the city’s investment at Capitol City Golf Club Estates as well as future septic-to-sewer projects.
One early proposal is to have city water and sewer customers pay a “water quality assurance fee” of about $10 per month.
But the city of Lacey also must decide whether it will continue to pay all of those expenses, or whether financial incentives or cost-sharing with property owners will have a role.
Finance director Woo said that for the city to continue to pay for all of those projects will be difficult. Even if it generates $2.5 million in revenue a year, it will take the city seven years to pay off the Capitol City Golf Club Estates investment, he said.
“We haven’t made a final decision about septic-to-sewer conversions beyond the Capitol City Golf Club Estates project,” Cox said. “I favor prioritizing the areas that pose the greatest contamination threat to water resources with financial incentives to connect to city sewers.”
Homeowners’ change of heart
The other piece of this project is annexation. In exchange for a free connection to sewer, the city is asking golf course residents to agree to be annexed into Lacey by signing a special power of attorney document, said Larry Dittloff, president of the homeowners association.
The Growth Management Act encourages cities to annex “islands” such as the golf course and its residential community because it’s in an unincorporated area nearly surrounded by Lacey.
The owners of those 400 lots have shown support for the sewer project and more than half have agreed to be annexed, Dittloff said.
The golf course community hasn’t always felt that way about annexation. About two years ago, many of those residents gathered at Lacey City Hall and explained, sometimes loudly, that they were against it. One of their concerns then was the cost of connecting to the city’s sewer system.
However, Dittloff said he understands the benefits of annexation, including that law enforcement response times likely will be faster with Lacey police than Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, because he said that department is understaffed.
“I’m for it,” Dittloff said about the annexation.
This story was originally published November 24, 2019 at 6:00 AM.
