The rule change came from a 2023 bill out of Raleigh that only recently went into effect. It essentially caps how much new development counties can approve beyond their current sewer system capacity. That means counties can’t greenlight as many new projects, even if they could boost capacity by the time new buildings are actually finished.
Specifically, the project only applies to the top 20 fastest-growing counties in the state, according to the law, which says that those counties "may not allocate more than the permitted projected capacity after expansion without approval by the Department."
Brunswick County spokesperson Meagan Kascsak says, "DEQ’s change only affects future applicants for any new sewer line extension permit requests."
For that reason, any projects that have already received their sewer line extension permits are not affected, but projects that have applied would face a denial.
It’s a substantial change from how things used to work, where counties had to start planning for new sewer infrastructure when they were already at 80% of capacity, and have the plant permitted by the time they hit 90%. That allowed counties to grow sewer capacity as it was needed, instead of ahead of time. The new law caps development when the county's "allocation" of sewer service reaches 115% of existing capacity.
Brunswick is in line with the old rules, but not the new rules, according to NCDEQ.
That’s essentially because they’ve granted permits for developers to build out, some far in advance. And the state has put the kibosh on that, with eight developments in stasis since November. County Manager Steve Stone said it would push the county to develop far more capacity than its master plan demands.
“We would probably need to expand by 9 million gallons, or 12 million gallons, or some other number, and in my mind, that would cause us to spend hundreds of millions of dollars of capital way before it was needed,” he said in a January 20 update to the commissioners.
County commissioners were frustrated to hear about the shift, and seemed to view it as overreach by Raleigh.
Pat Sykes said, "When all this here capacity is taken, who's going to be putting a bond out there for the citizens to build a new sewer plant, and then paying for it, it will be the citizens, so the ones getting the service will have to pay for the new plant."
As of February, the county is in the middle of negotiating and sharing data with DEQ. Kascsak said "there is not an estimated time or date that this issue will be resolved, but we believe we now have a path forward for the Northeast Wastewater Treatment Plant and staff is submitting the necessary information to resume line extension permitting."
Brunswick County is the first county in the state where DEQ is applying these new changes in their calculations. Stone said the change is a substantial burden. "The needed capital to meet these new rules is absolutely staggering and quite possibly beyond our ability to issue debt," he said.
Commissioner Randy Thompson voiced some frustration about the change, saying sarcastically, "They've helped us with our UDO. It looks like they're fixing to help us with our property tax situation. Why not help us with this? We ought to be in great hands.
If these negotiations with DEQ don't fix the problem, county commissioners may need to bring the issue to Raleigh, rather than to their ratepayers, Stone said.
"I think we're going to need to go to the General Assembly and see if legislators can help with it," he said. "I'm not sure what the legislative intent was, but I'm pretty sure the legislative intent was not what has played out here in the last 90 days."
