Running Water To Enterprise Corner Property To Begin In Earnest In 2025

Work to run water and sewer service along Cartersville Highway to the Enterprise Corner industrial property will likely begin in earnest in early 2025.

The 200-acre property is located along U.S. 411 at 231 Bass Ferry Road. It was purchased by the Rome-Floyd County Development Authority for just under $4.2 million in SPLOST funds in 2021.

While the tract is not yet tied into the water and sewer systems, that doesn’t mean nothing’s been going on so far. In order to dig that first bit of soil to lay pipes, there’s a lot of background work that must first be done.

Rome Water and Sewer Director John Boyd said they’ve just completed the staff review of the engineer drawing and specs for the project and hope to begin advertising for bids on the project around October.

Like any large project, there’s also a number of regulatory hurdles which must be overcome. They’ll need to get the nod from the Georgia Department of Transportation and state Environmental Protection Division before they can start putting service pipes in the ground.

At this point the utility project has cost $1.1 million, defrayed somewhat by a $50,000 Appalachian Regional Commission grant procured by the development authority.

Voters approved earmarks in the 2023 special purpose, local option sales tax package for water and sewer expansions that would serve the site. In that SPLOST, $3,400,000 is allocated for a water line expansion along U.S. 411 and another $4,500,000 is allocated for a sewer expansion.

While that process is moving forward, the development authority is still working toward getting the site certified as a Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development property.

The GRAD process essentially allows certified sites to fast-track construction projects through advance due diligence. That process is being headed up by the authority’s project manager, Heather Seckman.

“We’re still working diligently forward in that process,” authority President Missy Kendrick told the board during a meeting Tuesday.