FORSYTH COUNTY — The sewer rate has been established for a new Kroger-anchored development and Dunkin Donuts southwest of Cumming.
During a work session Tuesday, the Forsyth County commission voted 5-0 to set the rates at $22 per gallon, and to buy the capacity from the city of Cumming for $20 per gallon.
Located on about 27 acres at Castleberry and Bethelview Roads, the Castleberry Kroger Shopping Center will feature a large grocery store with unconnected outparcels, an 18-pump fuel station and nearly 700 parking spaces.
The Castleberry Promenade Dunkin Donuts will be located across the intersection, next to CVS.
Per county documents, Forsyth will pay $42,400 for the capacity at the doughnut shop, which will use about 2,120 gallons per day, and $120,360 for the Kroger center, which will use around 6,018 gallons per day.
Prior to approval, Tim Perkins, the county’s water and sewer director, said the purchase agreement could change after going through the office of County Attorney Ken Jarrard.
“[The] office has reviewed the city’s standard reservation agreement and has some suggested changes,” he said. “Some of those they will probably accept, but maybe not all of them. So, I’d like these to be approved contingent on Ken’s approval of the changes that the city makes.”
Perkins explained that the county had attempted to purchase the sewer capacity in bulk, but Cumming decided against that.
“[The city] just basically gave the authority back to the utilities director to sell capacity to us on an individual basis,” he said.
During a meeting in February, the Cumming City Council voted 5-0 to sell extra sewer capacity to the county, and to change the process to a case-by-case basis.
John Heard, the city’s utilities director, said at the time that the move would save time and money for both governments by not requiring the agreement to flow between attorneys.
“There would be a lot of negotiating back and forth just to create the [agreement] and every single time we wanted to sell sewer capacity we had to create a new [agreement],” he said.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Perkins said the county may soon need to address its policy for sewer.
“We may have to come back in the future and request for more standardized tap fees all over the county,” he said. “We aren’t there yet, but we are going to have to discuss overall tap fees very soon.”