NEW ALBANY —
Factories can’t locate to Grant Line Industrial Park West without basic infrastructure in place.
While from a construction standpoint New Albany is ready to install sewer lines at the park, the city is having to wait on federal approval to add capacity to existing basins before the sanitary work can commence.
Sewer attorney Greg Fifer said Thursday that will likely hinge on the city finalizing its financing package for capital improvements. The financing will be backed by New Albany’s recent sewer rate increase, which will foot upgrades to basin 14 and the Mount Tabor Road basin along with tax-increment financing money.
Wes Christmas, an engineer with the city-hired firm Clark-Dietz, said a proposal requesting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency clear New Albany to add sewer capacity has already been submitted.
“We never received approval — it was withheld,” he said.
But while the EPA hasn’t OK’d the application, Christmas said the agency hasn’t denied it either. The EPA has authority over New Albany’s capacity since the two entities entered into a consent decree due to an abundance of sanitary sewer overflows in the city.
Fifer told the Sewer Board that within the next 30 days, he should have a document prepared for the EPA vouching that the city will finalize its financing arrangement by the end of the year.
Additionally, the utility will vow not to add any more capacity to the basins until the upgrades have been finished, Fifer said.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management, or IDEM, “is not going to issue a construction permit without EPA approval,” Fifer said.
Without an IDEM permit, the sewer lines cannot be installed. Christmas said the EPA has concerns about capacity that have kept the agency from approving the additional flow.
Grant Line West is expected to be a valuable economic development tool for New Albany with the city running out of space for industries to open or expand.
The upgrades to the basins to allow for more space are part of New Albany’s amended capacity assurance plan, or CAP. The updated CAP has not been approved, but an EPA spokeswoman said in March the agency agreed in principle with the strategy.
“EPA’s review of the revised CAP is limited to the issue of whether the plan will correct continuing sanitary sewer overflows,” said EPA Media Relations Specialist Karen Thompson.
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