Danville City Commission has approved an agreement to expand sewer access along the south side of the U.S. 150 Bypass, where a developer is actively pursuing further development.

According to City Engineer Earl Coffey, Danville Host LLC has been trying to develop the property along the bypass, where the Hampton Inn and the new Holiday Inn Express are located, for quite some time.

Currently, the developer owns a pump station that provides service for the Hampton Inn.  

Back in 2000, when the development plan was first submitted, Coffey said the city approved up to five taps to utilize the pump station.

“With the addition of Holiday Inn … (the developer) has reached a point where his path forward and his mind is set and he is verifying what the agreement said, which was the five taps,” Coffey said.

The developer is now asking for three more taps in addition to the original proposal.  

According to the resolution passed by Danville City Commission last week, the three additional taps will be added to the existing five on a temporary pump station that services section one of the development area.

Along with the addition of the taps, Danville Host LLC will eventually be pursuing easements in order to extend the sewer to the Balls Branch line, which involves crossing the properties of multiple owners and will take additional time to construct, according to the resolution.   

City Attorney Stephen Dexter said that the cost of the additional taps and future expansion of the sewer system will fall on the developer; the city will not have to expend any funds for these projects.  

“The purpose of the ordinance does allow the developer to have additional taps but also allows the developer to recover costs by the city charging a tap fee when these new lots are sold,” he said. “Tap fees are collected by the city and turned over to the developer. The city acts as a simple pass through.”

Dexter said the city could see an agreement to consider within the next six to eight weeks concerning the further expansion of the Balls Branch line.

“The end goal is to be on city sewer without temporary pump stations,” Dexter said.