The city of Springfield’s stormwater and wastewater infrastructure is aging, and a long-term plan to shore up leaks to comply with federal regulations is estimated to cost taxpayers $200 million over 10 years.
And still more improvements would be needed, said Springfield Assistant Director of Environmental Services Aaron Kemper.
Kemper introduced an ordinance at the Nov. 24 City Council meeting that would allow staff members next month to submit Springfield’s integrated plan for systemwide stormwater and wastewater improvements to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. DNR is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enforce rules related to sanitary system overflows, which are prohibited under the 1972 Clean Water Act. The integrated plan, or overflow control plan, is designed to eliminate SSOs within the city. SSOs occur when stormwater causes overflows in the city’s wastewater pipes.
Kemper told council members the scope of a second phase of improvements would be determined in the ninth year of the plan’s rollout. City and county officials have estimated system upgrades could cost up to $1.6 billion over two decades.
During the public hearing, four supported the plan, and no one spoke against it. A second reading and vote on the bill is scheduled for the Dec. 15 council meeting.
City officials would seek funding for the upgrades following DNR’s approval of the plan.
Kemper said the city’s current $50 million early action plan, which already has prompted some system improvements, means wastewater bills can’t increase beyond what is already scheduled through fiscal 2017. He said it is likely sewer rates would need to increase by around 6 percent annually after 2017 through the end of the 10-year plan.
Enforcement of the Clean Water Act has been slowly gaining momentum over the past 20 years. In 1995, the city entered into a consent judgment to develop a long-term plan to come into compliance. Since that time, Kemper estimates the city has spent $180 million on upgrades, largely to determine the best way forward for systemwide improvements.
In 2011, council approved the early action plan, which has focused on upgrading private connections to the city’s public stormwater and wastewater infrastructure. The initiative included a series of sewer rate hikes that are still being implemented.
While the $200 million bill for public improvements is a significant investment for the city’s aging infrastructure, consent agreements for municipalities in other areas of the state are steeper, Kemper said. In Kansas City, officials project $4.5 billion in needed improvements, and St. Louis residents face $4.7 billion in upgrades. St. Joseph, which has a population roughly half the size of Springfield, anticipates spending $462 million to come into compliance.
Kemper told council members proper wastewater collection and treatment was likely the most important service a municipality could provide its residents.
“I would contend that it is so essential for public health that it has prevented more disease than any hospital ever built,” he said.
With roughly 1,200 miles of wastewater and stormwater pipes throughout Springfield, Kemper said 1.6 million feet of city pipe is now over 50 years old and 315,000 feet of pipe is over the century mark.
Townhouses approvedCouncil approved the Hampton Townhouses Redevelopment Plan by an 8-1 vote, with Craig Hosmer casting the lone dissenting vote.
Organized by real estate investor Robert Kelly Byrne, 311 S. Hampton LLC plans to redevelop three adjacent properties along the west side of South Hampton Avenue between East McDaniel and Walnut streets.
According to information disclosed by Springfield Economic Development Director Mary Lilly Smith during the public hearing, two of the properties have vacant homes exhibiting unsanitary and unsafe conditions, and one lot is empty.
The plan calls for combining the lots and building up to 15 townhouses, though Smith said the developer intends to construct nine.
Council’s approval, which includes a designation of blight, secures 10 years of property tax abatement on new improvements and results in an estimated tax savings of $134,000.
SOGI tabledBy city charter, council members had two options after City Clerk Brenda Cirtin’s office received a referendum petition with nearly 2,350 signatures opposing its Oct. 13 decision to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance.
Council could repeal the additions or send the issue to voters.
Councilwoman Cindy Rushefsky and five of her peers chose option No. 2 – through the back door.
Rushefsky moved to table a pair of bills – one to repeal the additions and one to send the matter to the ballot box – for more than 30 days. According to city charter, if council doesn’t take a vote on referendum petitions within 30 days, the measure automatically goes to voters.
Council members supported the motion to table 6-3, effectively sending the issue to the April 7 ballot. Councilmen Jerry Compton and Doug Burlison, along with Mayor Bob Stephens, voted against tabling the measures. Members of the public could have spoken in a public hearing had the bills not be tabled.
[[In-content Ad]]
