Developer Requesting Lawrenceburg Sewer For Planned Subdivision

Scenic Ridge would have 18 high-end homes built in Lawrenceburg Township, but the developer wants sewer service first.

A new 18-home subdivision is planned on Scenic Drive in Lawrenceburg Township, just outside the Lawrenceburg city limits. Image by Land Consultants via Dearborn County Planning & Zoning.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - A planned development near Lawrenceburg will be on-hold until utilities are available at the site, the city’s utility board learned Monday.

Scenic Drive LLC has received primary plat approval from the county for a high-end, 18-home subdivision called Scenic Ridge. The 53 acres along Scenic Drive just outside the Lawrenceburg city limits are owned by John Maas.

An engineer for the proposed development approached the Lawrenceburg Utility Service Board requesting the city extend sanitary sewer to the site, as well as water, electric, and fiver internet.

“We will not go to construction unless we have current utilities, especially sewer,” said Jeff Talkers with Land Consultants. “Technically, we can build it, but we don’t want to build it without sanitary sewer.”

Talkers explained that the site is designed to have gravity sewer. Sewage from the proposed development would collect in a manhole, then directed to a future pump station, force main, or gravity line put in by the city.

The owner would pay for the sewer infrastructure on the property, but not the extension to it, Talkers indicated.

Lawrenceburg city attorney Del Weldon asked if the property is part of a proposed annexation into the city. Lawrenceburg Municipal Utilities director Olin Clawson answered that if the city serves the property with sewer, it would require the residents to sign a remonstrance accepting annexation.

The property had previously been included in a defunct plan to increase LMU water and sewer utility rates when annexing a larger area into the city.

Clawson said the city and county could partner on a project to extend sewer in the area, as they did on Wilson Creek Road.

“I think there are several different options to try to do projects like this,” Clawson told the utility board.

Talkers said the development may be a start point for solving sewer issues in the county – namely failing septic systems at homes without sewer access. The Dearborn County Regional Sewer District is on board for that reason, he added.

The utility board made no decision on the matter Monday. Talkers said the property owner, Maas, is willing to wait and see what happens with utilities before building.

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