(8/11) A 4.27-acre, 36-unit housing development proposed at Harney Rd. and Westview Dr. in Taneytown is slowly working its way through issues relating to establishing approvals for inclusion in the municipal water supply service.
The proposed development, Taneytown Crossing, would consist of 13 duplexes and one building with stacked units, according to the developers, Pax Edwards, LLC, of Belair.
Problems in advancing the development effort have been hampered by an apparent stalemate between the town and the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) regarding ‘exhausted’ available water capacity at the water processing plant, the MDE maintaining the town did not have sufficient capacity left to commit to serve any new developments.
However, an end to the bureaucratic stalemate appears to be reaching a resolution, which would pave the way for the proposed development to progress.
Integral to gaining capacity that will aid the developers of Taneytown Crossing is a proposal to amend the Carroll County Water and Sewer Master Plan in a manner that will allow Taneytown to be credited with more water and sewer capacity, which is slowly winding its way to final approval. The amendment must be approved by the MDE.
Previously, the capacity of local water and sewer plants was generated by employing one-size-fits-all numbers, but Taneytown successfully lobbied for the MDE to use actual town-generated numbers, which more accurately reflects actual average water and sewer service usage.
The city was able to demonstrate that sufficient capacity did exist for impending developments or users, (such as the Taneytown Crossing development), using ‘real,’ average use numbers.
City Manager James Wieprecht stated at the August workshop, "We are in a much better place now with the water and sewer plan than we have been in the recent past." This resolution would pave the way for Taneytown Crossing.
Further, some additional water capacity was recently gained through work on the O'Brien Ave. Bridge sewer-replacement project. As a result of that work, that fix alone gained the town an additional 53,000 gpd (gallons per day) by reducing the I&I. Also, work planned on the pipelines from the Meadowbrook area down to York St. in 2121 is expected to recoup
another 102,000 gpd.
Gaining MDE approvals for the revised town capacity projections, thereby enabling the amendment of the Carroll County Water and Sewer Master Plan accordingly, could occur by the time this issue of the News-Journal is published.
