Report recommends LaPorte sewer service

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

If a preliminary plan holds, new LaPorte-area developments could benefit from Fort Collins sewer services--but only if they're willing to help pay for the city library and other urban amenities.

A report released in mid-September by a joint city/county task force recommends that Fort Collins extend sewer services to some areas of potential development near LaPorte. To make it worthwhile for the city, the group suggests tacking on a one-time development fee to help pay for LaPorte's share of city services such as the public library, parks and street improvements. The fee would be determined by the city manager.

The recommendation has to pass through several more hoops before being enacted, however, and it could change considerably in the process. The proposal will be reviewed in October by two city advisory boards - planning and zoning and water - and the city council will likely hold a study session on the issue in November. Eventually, if the council wants to change city policy, a public hearing will be held.

The task force report received a thumbs-up from Tim O'Hara, chair of the LaPorte Area Planning and Advisory Committee. "It's in our favor," he said. He doesn't object to the idea of an impact fee, noting that land prices are so high that developers would "hardly notice" one more fee. He said the fee is a good thing if it will help sway the city in favor of providing service to LaPorte, and he still sees that as an uphill battle.

The task force has been working on the issue of sewer service for LaPorte for five months. Up to this point, the city has considered sewer service on a case-by-case basis, but as development interest near LaPorte has increased, city planners decided that Fort Collins should have a clearer policy.

This tentative stance has made LaPorte developers and planners nervous, since many were counting on the ability to tap into city sewer services. In fact, the LaPorte Area Plan, approved this year, was based on that assumption. LaPorte planners are concerned not only about new developments needing sewer, but the existence of many small-lot septic systems that are failing, with unhealthy implications for water quality.

Must show benefit

Fort Collins' master plan, called City Plan, discourages the extension of city utilities outside the growth management area unless there is a community benefit. Furthermore, City Plan policy says the city should charge additional fees to non-city residents who use city services. Tim Wilder, a city planner and member of the task force, said the group agreed that extending city sewer to LaPorte is a good idea, but they had to justify the recommendation on the basis of benefits to Fort Collins. According to the group's report, benefits would include protection of water quality, a degree of control by Fort Collins of LaPorte-area development and the ability to offset some costs of services used by LaPorte-area residents. The last benefit would be in the form of a development impact fee.

In O'Hara's view, the biggest benefit to Fort Collins would be protecting water quality. If the city provides service to the LaPorte area, sewage effluent will not be discharged into the river upstream of the city, as would happen with a new sewer district or if Boxelder Sanitation District began serving LaPorte.

The task force recommendation is in part a response to the latest LaPorte Area Plan, which was developed by LAPAC over two and a half years. That plan calls for development densities in some areas that would require public sewer service. LAPAC members have said that they assumed Fort Collins sewer service would be available to these developments, especially since the city recently extended sewer service north of the Cache la Poudre River to the Heron Lake RV Park.

Potential: 2,100 new taps

If the LaPorte area develops according to the LaPorte Area Plan, there is a potential need for 2,132 new sewer taps, both residential and commercial. This number includes 166 existing residential units, many on small lots, that are currently on septic tanks but might use public sewer service in the future. "Clearly," the report states, "the extension of sanitary sewer services in LaPorte is necessary for new development and may allow existing residents to convert from septic systems to public sanitation."

Existing city sewer lines, including the new line serving Heron Lake RV Park, could handle about 1,700 additional residential units. While this is fewer than the projected potential, the report suggests that maximum development might not occur due to factors such as physical constraints and the market.

The report lists other options for LaPorte, if the city does not provide sewer service. They include the continued use of septic tanks, which limits density to one dwelling per 2.29 acres; the use of private package plants, also called community sewers, for new developments; creation of a new district to serve the LaPorte area; or extension of Boxelder sewer service into LaPorte.

Two LaPorte developers have already begun pursuing the formation of a new sewer district, the Grove Sanitation District, which would serve about 14 square miles.

Extending service from Fort Collins, "would provide the highest treatment standard and the lowest risks of accidental discharges into the Poudre River," the report states. It adds that the LaPorte situation is unique, since there are no other areas around the GMA that do not already have a sewer service provider.