Water And Sewer

When he started a veterinary hospital along Generals Highway on the outskirts of Annapolis in 1974, Harrison Monk says, he was promised his business would be linked to Anne Arundel County's water and sewer services in about a decade. Greater Annapolis Animal Hospital, which now is home to 15 veterinarians, still is without those services. Now drawing water from its second well, the practice also relies on its own septic system. And because it's a business, state regulations require Monk to be certified in water inspection, which calls for him to take continuing-education classes when he says he'd rather be studying animal medicine.

For the fourth consecutive year, Baltimore officials are proposing a 9 percent increase to water and sewer rates — and the charges will continue to grow indefinitely to cover the costs of major projects, they say. The proposed rate increases come as the Department of Public Works has been grappling with high-profile billing problems that have been attributed to faulty water meters, outdated computer programs and, in some neighborhoods, fictitious meter...

Harford County residents will pay more for public water and sewer service beginning next year as part of a $46 million upgrade to the Sod Run Wastewater Treatment plant.The Harford County Council passed the new water and sewer rates at its meeting Tuesday. Council President Joanne S. Parrott left early to attend to an "urgent matter" and did not vote.Water and sewer bills for the county's 28,000 customers won't rise until next year. Revenues from the increased rates will help pay for the upgrade of Sod Run and for increased operating expenses.

Facing Havre de Grace over the next two years are many issues that have posed challenges to the city for the past several years, notably land development policy, the related matter of water and sewer service finances and the ever-present issue of the degree to which tourism is part of the city's economic base. On May 8, voters in the city will have a choice among seven people - three incumbents and four newcomers to city politics - when they cast ballots to fill three seats on the six-member Havre de Grace City Council.

Manchester Councilman John A. Riley, who oversees the town's water and sewer systems, told the Town Council last night he is unhappy with water and sewer rates proposed by the ad-hoc committee on water and sewers."

After haggling for nearly an hour about water and sewer rates, the Taneytown City Council decided last night to raise the fees 20 cents.The vote was the only obstacle to approving the fiscal year 1995 budget, which the council accepted as one of its last orders of business.The city expects to collect and spend $1,938,320, with property taxed at the rate of 78 cents per $100 of assessed value. The fiscal year 1995 budget is 8 percent higher than last year's, with no increase in the city tax rate.

A Baltimore development company has filed suit against the County Council, contending that it improperly delayed water and sewer service to a development site where the company wants to build 1,600 homes.Security Management Corp. is asking the county Circuit Court to strike the council's approval of a plan that downgrades its development site.Security Management, operated by Victor Posner, is planning to build single-family houses and multifamily units at a 315-acre site offRoute 7, west of Aberdeen.

An article in Friday's Howard County section about a proposal to bring sewer and water service to Clarksville's business district incorrectly characterized Susan Gray's testimony. Ms. Gray said only two of the properties cited by the Health Department showed levels of contaminants higher than federal drinking water standards.* The Sun regrets the error.County officials want to extend water and sewer service to Clarksville's business district to cure ground water contamination problems, Planning Board members were told yesterday.

An article in Tuesday's edition of The Sun for Anne Arundel County reported incorrectly the status of bids for a project to extend water and sewer lines to Bacontown, a community near Laurel Park Race Course.The bids are to be opened May 9.The Sun regrets the error.Bacontown residents say they would rather get their public water and sewer services late than never.The project to extend water and sewer lines to the tiny community near the Laurel race course is a year behind schedule. That delay won't be a hardship for 69-year-old Louis Brooks.

Prospective buyers may be able to get to the bottom line on the cost of providing public utilities to the only available industrial land in New Windsor.Buchart Horn Inc., the town's engineering consultants, will conduct a study to determine how much buyers could expect to pay the town to extend water and sewer service to 14 acres of the land off Wakefield Valley Road."That's the first question on everyone's minds once they see the property," said Mayor Jack A. Gullo Jr. "When companies came to us to ask about services to the land, we had no concrete information."

Annapolis officials are poised to approve spending $12.5 million to start building a state-of-the-art water treatment facility as part of Mayor Joshua J. Cohen's proposed capital budget for fiscal year 2013. The city council has granted initial approval for the project to move forward after considering — and rejecting — an alternative plan for the city to receive its water from Anne Arundel County. The council is expected to approve funding to start work on the new plant when it votes on the budget in the next few weeks.

Our politicians in Aberdeen are back at the wheel, trying to steer residents down a path in which they have no interest. The mayor and City Council had a "retreat" at Ripken Stadium a few weekends ago, where they started to work on their plans to solve the problems here in Aberdeen. Some of the ideas have merit but are approached from the wrong angle. Mayor Michael E. Bennett proposes securing investments for a pub or bar in "downtown Aberdeen" - we can describe this as the area on West Bel Air Avenue between the train tracks - and he explains that we need to eliminate height restrictions for this to happen.

The Harford County public and municipal elected officials in Aberdeen, Bel Air and Havre de Grace need to pay particularly close attention three bills on water and sewer issues that are scheduled for hearings before the Harford County Council this Tuesday, March 13, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Though the bills to some degree reflect a move in the general direction of a unified water system for the county, the question whether the county needs such...

When he started a veterinary hospital along Generals Highway on the outskirts of Annapolis in 1974, Harrison Monk says, he was promised his business would be linked to Anne Arundel County's water and sewer services in about a decade. Greater Annapolis Animal Hospital, which now is home to 15 veterinarians, still is without those services. Now drawing water from its second well, the practice also relies on its own septic system. And because it's a business, state regulations require Monk to be certified in water inspection, which calls for him to take continuing-education classes when he says he'd rather be studying animal medicine.

Having fallen for the hollow promise of easy residential development money years ago, the Havre de Grace city government is in the unfortunate situation of not being able to pay the debt service on what it has spent to make that development possible. Going back when Havre de Grace embarked upon the building boom that started with Bayview Estates and Grace Harbour, the city was limited in its ability to provide public services - specifically sanitary sewer service - to a large number of new homes.

That a few people turned up last week to have their say about the proposed changes in Harford County's Master Plan, an elemental document of land use and development policy, is both heartening and disappointing. Any time people show up to say their piece at a hearing on a key issue of public policy, it's a good thing. And the sentiment expressed is one that is often expressed when the issue at hand is development policy: People who live in Harford County chose to live here because they liked it the way it was when they moved in and would like to see that character retained.

County officials were preaching conservation when they outlined proposed new water and sewer rates that could increase customers' bills an average of 10 percent. The new rate structure, which officials discussed at a public hearing before the County Council on Tuesday night, could take effect as early as June 1."Water is not an unending commodity," said Harford County Treasurer James Jewell, "and it's not getting cheaper."The new rate structure would eliminate the minimum-use charge that is built into the system's base rate and would set charges based on consumption.

When a new water rate schedule came before the Harford County Council last week, Councilman Joe Woods and Council President Billy Boniface did the right thing to flag it for further review. Specifically, they raised questions about the county's division of water and sewer, including a provision that would charge new homes with sprinkler systems a higher base charge. Essentially, it means a home without sprinklers would be considered an "equivalent dwelling unit" for purposes of determining water charges, while a home with sprinklers would be considered two "equivalent dwelling units.

Disturbingly enough, there's been relatively little in the way of public comment so far as the latest step in devising a new land use plan for Harford County draws to a close. This process will culminate, after many administrative and political twists and turns, with a countywide comprehensive re-zoning, when there will be a big push to amend zoning maps to clear the way for development, largely residential development, based on the new land use plan. That aspect of the land use planning cycle, however, is beyond the horizon.