Flower Mound Town Council on Dec. 4 addressed the ongoing sewer connections issue in the Sunrise Circle area of town.
Council took no action but asked town staff to explore and evaluate ways to create a septic replacement program for the Sunrise Circle neighborhood and have a meeting with Texas Water Utilities officials to discuss water quality. Information on the neighborhood sewer system can be found on the town website.
The background
Sunrise Circle, an entity that also involves the Stonecrest South neighborhood, includes existing neighborhoods that were incorporated into the town’s boundaries during the 1999 annexation of approximately 5,000 acres in western Flower Mound, a Town Council agenda memo stated. The neighborhoods consist of 42 platted lots in the Sunrise Circle neighborhood and 48 platted lots in the Stonecrest South neighborhood. All developed lots include mobile homes on septic systems.
The neighborhoods are supplied drinking water by the Texas Water Utilities. Town officials said Texas Water Utilities has the exclusive right to provide drinking water to the Sunrise Circle area. Town officials asked Texas Water Utilities officials if they would be interested in transferring that right to the town, but the company declined.
The planned sewer improvements, known as the Sunrise Circle Wastewater Connection Project, consist of a wastewater line extension to provide sewer availability to the Sunrise Circle and Stonecrest South neighborhoods. During the fiscal year 2021-22 and FY 2022-23 budget processes, $470,000 was approved and funded for design, easement acquisition and construction costs.
The design was awarded Feb. 7, 2022, in the amount of $40,000 and included extending sewer north along the western side of the Union Pacific Railroad tract and entering the Sunrise Circle neighborhood in the southeast corner to serve the two cul-de-sacs within the neighborhood.
The budgeted estimated construction cost for the extension was $430,000, but bids on the project came back over the budget. The scope of the project, then, was reduced to only extend the line to the southern cul-de-sac.
Zooming in
The council agenda memo further states the free option for extension of services was eliminated when the Community Development Block Grant funding could no longer be used on the project. Because the town will be using town taxpayer funds, the extension of services falls under the town’s ordinances regarding the extension of utilities.
That ordinance allows services to be extended upon request and payment by the property owner(s), which is consistent with the town's annexation service plan. The memo states, under the ordinance, the property owners are responsible for the cost to extend services to their lot. The Sunrise Circle Wastewater Connection Project would make sewer service available, but not connect individual lots to the system, the memo stated.
Diving in deeper
Town Assistant Manager Tommy Dalton discussed options with council. In his presentation, he gave a history of the Sunrise Circle area and discussed funding as far as extension of sewer services to the Sunrise area and town wastewater policy about extensions. He also discussed water quality, zoning and septic systems.
Town officials held public meetings—the first in July—to share information about the Sunrise Circle area and hear from residents.
“There’s a lot of frustration, and I respect that,” Dalton told council. “I understand why the residents were frustrated. That’s why we reached out, to try to have this dialogue. It’s a lot of history and a lot of detail to manage. And If you’re frustrated by it, it’s understandable. I totally get it.”
He said the webpage was created to help people understand what is happening. Dalton told council that property owner opinions are mixed on this subject. Most sentiment hinges on the fact that there is not a free option for residents to extend their line into the town’s if it is extended into the neighborhood.
Dalton also discussed the financial assistance program and then revealed the options, which were:
- Fund the project ending at the southern cul-de-sac. The project will be rebid, and city staff anticipates increased costs because of materials and labor.
- Increase the budget to extend the project to the northern cul-de-sac.
- Choose option 1 or 2 and then direct staff to bring forward an exception process to the mandatory sewer connection ordinance.
- Do not extend the sewer line into the neighborhood.
- Follow whatever direction council wants to implement.
What they're saying
Council held a public hearing, which had four speakers, and Mayor Derek France said he had 13 cards from people who declined to speak in the hearing but supported sewer service being extended into Sunrise Circle. One public hearing speaker said $3.2 million—the amount of service connection—was affordable to the town for sewer service to Sunrise Circle.
After the hearing, council members shared their views, with some prevailing views rejecting the idea that all town residents be on the hook for the sewer service connection.
“I’m sorry, [but] $3.2 million that the rest of the town would have to pay for is not a tenable option,” council member Jim Engel said.
Council member Ann Martin also strongly opposed the town paying for the connections.
