Lebanon
But they want more information on where the boundaries of a proposed “urban services district” should lie.
The City Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to “endorse the concept” of a district presented by city planners that would limit new municipal water and sewer extensions to Lebanon’s core neighborhoods and main thoroughfares.
However, they declined to formally adopt the district, instead asking planners to make several tweaks to the proposed boundary and plans for a public outreach effort that solicits input from the city’s land use boards.
“I see this as a sort of conceptual (plan) that then will become more specifically defined as we go through the process,” said City Councilor Karen Liot Hill in an audio recording of the meeting.
Officials have long talked about creating a district that could signal where Lebanon intends to draw the lines between municipal services and rural areas, where new homes and buildings are required to install septic systems and drill wells. Currently, developers anywhere in the city can request their project be hooked up to water and sewer.
Calls for an urban services district were included in the city’s 2012 Master Plan, and councilors have discussed the matter in past months as a way to reduce the number of costly infrastructure projects.
By limiting sewer and water connections to a set area, Lebanon could encourage growth downtown and in West Lebanon while also forgoing the risk of costly upgrades to the city’s wastewater treatment plant and pipes, officials said.
Lebanon already is in the midst of a $75 million project to separate sewer and stormwater from 15 miles of its system, and the city recently committed another $1 million to upgrading a portion of sewer to increase capacity in West Lebanon.
“When you have high densities, it makes sense to have this infrastructure in place because you have people there to pay for it,” City Manager Shaun Mulholland told the City Council. “But when you spread that out in some cases, like we do, we just don’t have the money to, 20 or 30 years from now, make those repairs. It just isn’t there.”
City planners proposed drafting the district to include already existing gravity lines, which run throughout downtown, West Lebanon and north to the Hanover town line. They then included properties within 100 feet of the line, which already are required to hook up, in the event they’re developed.
“This map, I see as an opportunity to help clarify both for the council and for potential landowners/developers who would be interested in applying (for a sewer connection) to know whether they’re in or out,” said David Brooks, Lebanon’s director of planning and zoning.
He added the district wouldn’t limit development outside the boundaries. Those developments would just be required to install septic and wells, and likely would be less dense.
But councilors took issue with the inclusion of conservation properties within the proposed district lines, while omitting a few parcels deemed appropriate for development.
“I think that doing downzoning or eliminating service from those areas is in violation of the public trust,” former city engineer Dan Nash said of property near the Lebanon Municipal Airport that wasn’t included.
“Between the city and the airport, we’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get the utilities underneath the runway to service those areas,” he added.
The City Council ultimately agreed, and requested that planners amend their map. They also asked for estimates to perform a buildout analysis, which will look at the impact of potential development both in and outside the district.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.