by Lisa Schauer & Kate Shunney
Members of Warm Springs Public Service District met last Friday, May 13 in the Morgan County Courthouse to discuss and approve various sewage plans and projects underway in the county.
On their agenda was discussion of a request for the public utility to extend their lines in Great Cacapon to serve a proposed campground operation to the east of the Cacapon River bridge.
The plan to provide sewage service to the proposed campground was listed for discussion and approval, but board members made no decision about the request at Friday’s meeting.
Steve Buchanan, project engineer for the Thrasher Group, updated board members on some of the specifics of the request.
According to Buchanan’s briefing, there are two phases to the plan for development of a large private campground in the valley west of the Panorama.
Eighty-five campsites and 60 pull-through RV sites are planned for phase one, according to Buchanan, a consultant to the public service district.
Another 68 campsites are planned for phase II, along with four cabins, 72 RV sites, and 10 to twelve glamping sites.
Plans for the proposed campground also include a dumping station where people can dump their sewage, and a manhole installed at the Cacapon River, he said.
Discussion of the project was tabled, pending further meetings with the developer.
Mike Jenkins, chairman of Warm Springs Public Service, declined to answer more specific questions about the request and the campground plans, deferring to the private developer.
Jenkins indicated the sewer board wouldn’t make a decision about the service request until Buchanan could get more information from the developer’s engineers about project specifics.
That project has not yet come before the Morgan County Planning Commission for public approval.
Biser Street upgrade?
In other business, sewer officials discussed the possible upgrade of public sewer lines along Biser Street in conjunction with the U.S. 522 bypass project. Board members discussed increasing the size of the sewer line along Biser Street from eight to 12 inches, along with adding a bigger generator to increase capacity, using existing funds already allocated for the project.
According to PSD officials, five inches of rain fell over three days in early May, overrunning 80 percent of manholes, and forcing a shut down of the plant for two days until ground and surface water levels were back down to normal.
An effort to manage inflow and infiltration into the sewer system is ongoing.
