Residents push back against proposed Southwest Licking utility's St. Albans sewer plant

To handle the expected development in western Licking County, the Southwest Licking Community Water and Sewer District has proposed a wastewater treatment plant in St. Albans Township — but district officials seem to be the only ones who support it.

More than 200 residents and officials from surrounding communities spent more than two hours Tuesday night voicing their opposition to the proposed wastewater plant while Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials answered resident questions and held a hearing on the district’s request for a discharge permit.

Granville and Johnstown asked the state to deny the permit request in May letter. A second letter from the two communities triggered Tuesday's meeting.

If the EPA approves the request, the plant would discharge treated water into a stream known as Moots Run, which flows into Raccoon Creek and recharges a wellfield from which Granville and Alexandria obtain their drinking water.

Residents raised concerns about possible flooding, change in water quality and increase in pollutants, erosion of Raccoon Creek beds, and more as a result of allowing treated discharge from the plant into Moot Runs.

Dan Bellman, of Granville, asked why the EPA doesn't just require the plant's discharge be clean potable water.

"Everybody here is concerned about polluting their area, their land, their home, where they live, pollution with their kids," he said. "So tell me, why won't you protect them and make sure that what comes out of this plant is pure drinking water."

Walter Ariss, national pollutant discharge elimination systems manager at the Ohio EPA, said current regulations don't require that, adding that the utility district would be allowed to discharge a pollutant load that is compliant with the EPA's water quality standards.

Residents were also concerned about the plant's service area. Even though the plant will be located in St. Albans Township, the area it will serve is mostly to the west in Jersey Township, according to a map the EPA presented.

Sean Barnes, mayor of Alexandria, said that since Intel announced in January 2022 that it is building a $28 billion semiconductor factory in northwest Licking County, local leaders have worked feverishly to get ahead of development pressures. But these conversations have felt rushed.

"For our local communities, it seems no matter how quickly we work to get prepared, development is being rushed forward at a pace that's beyond the capacity for our local communities to manage and is increasing the likelihood that decisions will be rushed, especially as it relates to sewer and water," he said.

After taking office in January, Barnes joined the conversations between Johnstown, Alexandria and Granville, wo call themselves JAG, for a potential partnership on water and sewer service . Barnes said the group was also working with the Southwest Licking utility district to work out a future service area between all the entities at the EPA's urging to find "local solutions to local problems." He said the entities were just two weeks away from a meeting to finalize a service area map that could be presented to the Ohio EPA when JAG learned the utility district submitted the permit application.

He said he felt the application rushed ahead of the productive conversations and disrupted finding a solution.

Barnes also mentioned a citizen commission is actively studying whether St. Albans Township and the village of Alexandria should merge, a process that is going to last until August 2025 thanks to recent extensions granted by the village and township. If a merger is approved by Alexandria and St. Albans residents, having an outside sewer provider in the area could create problems. He asked the EPA to wait until the merger commission finishes its work before making a decision about the utility district's permit.

"Let us decide the question of the merger at the ballot box before making a decision that could have lasting impacts on our community," he said. "Because in this community, we are truly working towards a local solution to a local problem."

Sean Staneart, Johnstown's city manager, said through JAG as well as Framework, the 15-jurisdiction, public-private effort to plan for Intel, he learned that the challenges facing Licking County are bigger than any community can handle on their own. To solve this, Staneart said communities must collaborate with their neighbors.

"I firmly believe that if we work together we can find a solution in order to be successful," he said. "But we need to plan, we need to collaborate, we need to share ideas, we need to be creative, and we need to be intentional in our process. Not only in our corner of the universe, but throughout all of Licking County."

Jim Roberts, executive director of the Southwest Licking utility district, said he understands residents are concerned about the environmental impacts of the plant.

"In working with the OEPA on the treatment requirements, this plant will have stricter requirements than any other plant in our area," he said. "Our advanced treatment processes will likely improve water quality in Moots Run and Raccoon Creek, helping to counteract the effects of agricultural runoff, low water flow conditions, and existing treatment facilities with older and less sophisticated treatment processes."

The Ohio EPA is accepting public comments about utility district's application until July 23. Written comments can be emailed to epa.dswcomments@epa.ohio.gov. The EPA asks that the identification number 4PQ00007 be included in all comments. Letters can also be mailed to Ohio EPA Division of Surface Water, ATTN: Permits Processing Unit, PO Box 1049 Columbus, OH 43216-1049.

Mark Johnson, chief of the surface water division at the Ohio EPA, said after the meeting that EPA scientists will review and respond to all comments and then the agency will internally discuss the next steps, including whether to draft or deny the permit. But how long it takes to respond to the comments depends on how many the EPA receives, Johnson said.

He also encouraged people to email and call the EPA for updates. Anyone who reaches out or submits a comment by July 23 will be added to an interested party list that the EPA will send updates to as they have them.

"We want to be transparent. We want folks to know so they're not sitting there wondering," he said.

mdevito@gannett.com

740-607-2175

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Residents push back against proposed Southwest Licking utility's St. Albans sewer plant