JOHN COFFELTEditor

A recent development with the ongoing Manchester sewer tap moratorium could extend the wait time on some building projects as the city awaits for a consent agreement to be better defined.

In 2014, The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation issued a consent decree restricting (and is some cases preventing) city developers from connecting to the city sewer system. The order initially addressed public taps, such as those for apartments and large subdivisions located upstream from manholes that chronically overflow.

According to the City of Manchester, that rule did not apply to areas not above chronic manholes, nor did it apply to private taps issued by the city and not TDEC. It was believed at one time that, as inflow and infiltration of groundwater was corrected, a correlating amount of new building flow would be allowed.

Now according to Mayor Marilyn Howard, “it’s not business as usual.”

During the Sept. 19 Manchester Regional Planning Commission meeting, the issue came to the forefront of discussion when local surveyor Nicholas Northcutt sought clarification on how a new across the board punch list item that warns that all new lot owners must coordinate with Manchester Water and Sewer

Department on the availability of sewer service on their new lots.

According to the mayor, that could take years.

“If there’s a subdivision that has been approved by the city that every lot in the subdivision gets a tap, then there’s no problem with that but if there’s a lot that has one tap and they want to make two houses there, we cannot guarantee that,” Howard said.

Planning Commission member Ward Johnson noted that coordinating with Water and Sewer is a standard procedure.

However, City Attorney Craig Johnson said during the meeting that under the previous consent decree there was some ambiguity.

“It was read in different ways by different people,” he said.

Johnson said that the city and the state differed on the meaning of that language. A new consent decree is pending with clearer language, but until that is issued by the state, the city is in a position that it must caution builders that obtaining a sewer tap permit could be problematic.

“We want to make it extra clear (with these notes) that it’s not business as it has been as far as – it was certainly easier to get a sewer tap before,” he said.

Johnson called for the city to be upfront and open.

“To make it clear,” Johnson added, “Until we discuss and finalize the wording we’re going to live under this is just an effort to make it known that until we do that this is what we have to live with. It’s not subterfuge or anything else.”

Howard said the city is making sure every developer knows that if it’s a new tap, it could be years for approval.

Addressing what areas of town would be affected moving forward Johnson said that there could not be a definite answer without a consent decree.

“We are in the middle of talking to the state right now about how we’re going to move forward,” Johnson said. “Until we do that, this is the best thing to do.”

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.