Cookeville Water Department will further explore an ordinance requiring high-density developers to pay a sewer capacity fee.
In a presentation to the Cookeville Planning Commission Monday, Acting Director Barry Turner said that the major basins in Cookeville are reaching capacity and affecting future growth.
“What we’re proposing is where tracts are subdivided or where more than one SFU is added to an existing lot such as apartments,” Turner said. “A $2,000 per SFU capacity fee would be charged to offset the current or future sewer system upgrades.”
Turner said that the department is receiving requests to develop in areas where sewer service is at or near capacity, such as Cora Road and Cane Creek. He said that most upgrades are too expensive for one development to justify.
Turner said that they wanted the Planning Commission’s endorsement before bringing the future ordinance before City Council. Commission member Chad Gilbert said that he’d like to study these numbers more before voting to endorse such numbers.
“The fact that it’s two grand a unit and that the developers pay it all,” Gilbert said. “I think it’s a little more nuanced than that.”
Resident and realtor Mitch Copeland said that he thinks it would be fairer for residents to shoulder some of the burden of cost.
Turner said it wouldn’t go into effect until it was adopted by ordinance.
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