Williams at sewer capacity; city council to implement building moratorium

WILLIAMS Ariz. — Those looking to build a new home or business in Williams may have to wait.

The Williams City Council announced at its meeting May 11 that a building moratorium was needed while the city undertakes construction of a new water treatment plant. While the building moratorium has not been put in place yet, the city is consulting with its attorney and a specialist to determine how and when to do so.

How did we get here?

According to Mayor Don Dent, the city’s treatment plant is operating around 92 percent capacity. And while no one was excited to quell the city’s growth, each councilmember agreed that a moratorium was needed while the sewer capacity issues are addressed.

“I don’t think there’s any way around it, other than to do this,” said Vice Mayor Frank McNelly. “We’re just maxed out. We’ve got to stop building anything that will have an impact on our sewer system.”

When the city built the treatment plant 14 years ago, they were planning for a 30-year solution. No one was expecting a need for an upgrade in the middle of the facility’s lifespan.

To ensure that a new plant was needed, the city looked into whether inflows from an extremely snowy winter were causing a surge in capacity, as would be expected. They found out, however, that the plant was already operating around 90 percent when no inflow events were present.

“We had days in the fall when we were measured in the 90 to 95 percent range when there wasn’t really much inflow,” he said. “The inflows are part of the problem, but they’re not the whole problem. The fact is we’re just at capacity.”

“Back when it was built, our building permits averaged somewhere around 20 to 25 building permits per year, some years less than 10,” Dent said. “Now for the last three years in a row, we’re getting over 90 new permits. We’ve got to put a stop to it because we will go over our capacity and we will be in trouble with ADEQ.”

Dent said the city wanted to avoid the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s involvement because it meant that sewer rates would likely be raised, putting the onus on residents to help pay for a new solution.

The council is also currently researching ways to pay for the new plant, which would be built right alongside the old plant and would double its capacity. But since the city just recently took out a bond for two new water lines, it doesn’t currently have the ability to secure a new bond for the upgrade, which could cost anywhere from $35 to $40 million.

“We know right now that unless we do a lot of changes to sewer rates, we don’t have the financial capacity to borrow 40 million dollars,” Dent said.

Planned homes and approved permits

Some residents, like Jerry Anthony, raised concerns about anticipated homes that hadn’t been approved by the city yet, but were planning to submit building permit application in the near future. If they’re not approved by the time the moratorium goes into effect, they’ll be waiting at least three or four years to begin the process.

“I live in the Escalante subdivision, and we’ve got some homes planned there that haven’t received permits yet,” Anthony said. “We want to build out. It helps raise our property value and the town’s tax base. We’re hoping to have three to four more starts by fall.”

Councilmember Mike Cowan said that permits already approved by the city should be honored, which means some new builds will likely be grandfathered in. Now that the moratorium is on the table, he said he expects the city to get an influx of new permit applications in anticipation of gaining approval before it’s imposed. He also pointed out that building moratoriums aren’t new to Williams.

“A few years ago when we were in that drought, we had a moratorium on building because we didn’t have the water,” said Cowan. “Now we’re on the opposite end of that. We have the water but not the sewer capacity.”

While new homes or businesses likely won’t be approved any time soon, McNelly said not all building had to stop. Garages, additions and anything that won’t impact the sewer system can still go forward.