Fauquier Charrette

Fauquier County,
Virginia

Service Districts:
Calverton, Catlett, Midland, New Baltimore, Opal

Population (County): Households: FY'93 Budget: Assessable Base: Median Household Income:

48,741 16,509 $84,817,093 $4,089,039,920 $45,222

Town Background

Fauquier County, located in northern Virginia 40 miles west of Washington, D.C., covers approximately 660 square miles and has a total population of 48,741 (1990). The County lies in two watersheds, with the Rappahannock River Watershed to the west and the Occoquan river (Potomac Watershed) to the east. Because the Occoquan Reservoir is the primary water supply to Northern Virginia, the state has developed some of the most stringent clean water regulations in the nation for this watershed in order to protect its water quality, including requirements for tertiary "plus" treatment of all effluent and restrictions on the total number of discharge points along the river.

Fauquier County is growing rapidly, as evidenced by a 36% increase in population from 1980 to 1990. Historically, roughly 25% of the growth and development has taken place outside planned growth areas (service districts)-- areas with no central water or sewer service. In fact, ninety percent of the population lives in areas designated "rural" by the Department of the Census.

Much of the growth pressure has come from neighboring Prince William County, which has been the destination of choice for professionals desiring to escape the urban demands of Washington, D.C. The prospect of a new Disney theme park in Prince William County, only a few miles from the county border may add to this pressure.

Fauquier County is also considered by many to be wealthy, given a median household income level of $45,222, the seventh highest of all jurisdictions in Virginia. Fauquier ranks eighth in Virginia (and 54th in the U.S.) in households with incomes over $100,000. Most residents classify themselves in executive, administrative and managerial positions. Over half work within Fauquier County. The largest employer in the county is the Vint Hill Farms Station Army Base, which employs 1,058 civilians and 751 military personnel. This base is scheduled to close in 1997-1998.

The Issue

Fauquier County has nine service districts which have been designated to receive future growth in the county. The purpose of these districts is to concentrate development in areas that have pre-existing transportation and commercial services.

Service districts are intended to be served by central water and sewer, but in reality, only four have central sewer. The five service districts that are not served by central sewer are Calverton, Catlett, Midland, New Baltimore and Opal. All are experiencing varying degrees of health and environmental problems associated with failing septic systems. The County Board of Supervisors has made it a priority to provide central sewer to these service districts.

The total population for the service districts of Calverton, Catlett, Midland and Opal equals 606, while New Baltimore's population totals 5,864 (a 138% increase over 1980 figures). Because these districts are unincorporated, they cannot apply individually for grants and loans--the County must do this for them. A concern is that Fauquier County has a median household income well above the low- to moderate-income level required by most grant and loan programs. Most grant and low-interest loan programs at the Federal and even state level are reserved for economically disadvantaged communities, so it is probable that grant and loan requests will be denied to Fauquier County based on their relative wealth.

Another concern is that many "slow growth" advocates in the county do not want to assume any more debt for the construction of a facility from which they receive no personal benefit. Since any bond referendum must receive favorable approval of the voters of the county, it may be difficult for the county to issue bonds and spread the debt service costs among all residents in the county. More likely is the formation of Sanitary Districts, which have the express authority to issue bonds independent from the county. But the small tax base of the areas in question will necessitate the levying of onerous taxes and fees to cover the debt service of these bonds. If the cost per capita to build waste treatment facilities in these areas were to be borne only by service district residents, the projects would be prohibitively expensive. Herein lies the problem.

Environmental Context

Development within the designated service districts that lack central sewer has taken place with septic tanks and drain field systems. The ability for these systems to effectively treat waste water depends upon, among other things, the suitability of the soils, the density of systems within the area and the age of the system.

Soil types in the south central part of the county, where these service districts are located, have large areas that are not suitable for septic systems. In the Catlett/Calverton area, which has higher density development, more than 73% of the systems are failing--raw sewage has been reported on the ground surface during parts of the year. In the New Baltimore area, 29% of the documented systems (only 58% of the septic systems in this are fully documented) were more than 20 years old. Some of these systems were permitted in flood plains and others on small lots with the understanding that central utilities would be provided in the future. Until central sewer is provided, many homeowners and businesses cannot add bathrooms or bedrooms or otherwise expand. This encourages sprawl development as applications for septic permits continue for outlying areas that have suitable soils.

In addition, Virginia's strict clean water regulations for the Occoquan watershed (dubbed the "Occoquan Policy") limit the total number of regional waste treatment facilities permitted in the watershed to three. According to the Occoquan Policy, Fauquier County has been allocated only one of the three regional high-performance treatment facilities allowed in the watershed. Engineers retained by the county to address waste treatment issues have recommended the expansion of one existing facility and the construction of another facility. What is significant is that both of these facilities are considered by the State Water Control Board to be the second and third of the three allowable plants in the Occoquan watershed. Fauquier County must decide where to place their one allocated waste treatment plant so as to gain the most benefit from its location. It would be premature of Fauquier County to conclude that the third allowable treatment facility would also be sited in Fauquier County. Among other things, politics will play a major role in the siting of the third facility.

Project Financing

An engineering firm retained by the County has recommended a series of interim solutions and estimated costs for these solutions.

The New Baltimore interim solution consists of purchasing, upgrading and operating the existing Vint Hill Farms Station Army Base treatment facility. The plant would be expanded from its current capacity of .246 million gallons per day (mgd) to 1.0 mgd. The estimated cost of this project, including the installation of gravity sewers and the construction of pump stations, is $12.6 million.

The Catlett/Calverton interim solution recommends the construction of a central collection system and a 50,000 gallon per day (gpd) waste water treatment plant that would service Catlett, Calverton, and possibly Midland. Calverton and Midland would each have a collection system and holding vaults so that the effluent could be trucked to the Catlett facility for further treatment. The estimated cost of this project is $1.6 million.

At the time of the charrette, no applications were filed with any agencies or other grant/loan programs. An extensive list of potential sources of grant and loan funding has been completed.

Recommendations and Observations

1. It was suggested that the County declare the affected Service Districts as "potential public health problem" areas--in this way the districts would become a higher priority for potential programs, such as certain Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and State Revolving Fund Loans (SRF), and possibly Farmers Home Administration loans (FmHA). Those areas experiencing rapid growth might also qualify for various economic development grants and loans.

2. One recommended solution was to group the various service districts into four regionalized areas and then address each of their needs separately. One area would be ideal to experiment with the privatization of waste treatment services. Another area should take advantage of available military base closing funds and upgrade the existing base waste treatment facility. By regionalizing the problems, the County can gain economies of scale by spreading out the costs over larger populations, plus save money by putting like-projects out to bid to one company.

3. Although alternative technologies were explored in a cursory way by the County, it was suggested that there were funds available from firms that have developed alternative technologies for waste treatment. These firms were anxious to get the opportunity to develop projects demonstrating their technological expertise, and were willing to partially finance a jurisdiction's foray into alternative technologies.

4. It was suggested that although it may appear that only the residents within the service districts would benefit from central water and sewer, it was clear that all residents in the county benefited from centralized services. By directing growth and development into service districts, according to the Comprehensive Plan, this policy alleviates growth pressures in the outlying areas, preserving, in effect, the more rural lifestyle so highly regarded in the outlying areas of the county. Both service district residents and rural residents benefit from central services, and therefore all residents should be willing to pay for these benefits, through a county bond issuance.

5. It was suggested that service districts and Sanitary Districts should be run as businesses--revenues should cover costs, reserves for emergencies should be established and funded, and capital costs should cover capital expenditures, such as upgrades of facilities. It has always been difficult to raise water and sewer rates because elected officials often run for office on the premise that they will not increase taxes, fees or rates for residents. By running service districts or Sanitary Districts as a business, though, all "blame" for increasing rates can be placed on the business, and allow elected officials to save "political face."