HANCOCK COUNTY — NineStar Connect is planning a surge of expansions for its water and sewer services.
The utility cooperative, which also provides electric and high-speed fiber-optic services, plans about $3 million in water and wastewater expansions to match the residential and commercial growth in western and northern Hancock County.
The utility will extend water service from the former GEM water plant it owns just south of U.S. 40 and east of County Road 500W to the new Gateway Hancock Health campus at Interstate 70 and Mt. Comfort Road, where a new 500,000-gallon water tower will also go up, according to a news release from NineStar.
NineStar will also build a wastewater treatment plant and water plant for a new housing development just north of U.S. 40 off of County Road 200W. The project has received regulatory approvals, and work will start this fall.
The utility will extend sewer lines as well at its plant in Maxwell north on State Road 9 to County Road 700N and then east.
NineStar Connect completed its acquisition of GEM Water from Cumberland in January 2019. The co-op plans to double the capacity of GEM facilities to keep up with residential and commercial growth in west-central Hancock County.
The utility co-sponsored the Urban Land Institute study of the Mt. Comfort Corridor in western Hancock County, which anticipates more growth along Mt. Comfort Road.
Michael Burrow, president of NineStar Connect, said in the news release that all new water and sewer customers will become members of the co-op and receive high-speed fiber-optic service to their properties.
“The mission of NineStar Connect is to deliver the utility infrastructure needed to enable well-planned economic development,” Burrow said.
A lack of accessible water and sewer infrastructure often means rural areas struggle to attract economic development, the release said, adding 75 percent of Hancock County is on septic systems.
“NineStar’s utility investments promise to meet the pent-up demand for home builders and businesses looking to locate in the area,” the co-op said.
Sapphire Springs, a new 56-acre lakeside development with 33 custom homes about seven miles north of Greenfield on County Road 700N, is one of the beneficiaries of NineStar’s expansions, the release said.
The development’s former owner had plans to install a private sewage disposal plant, which the release says would detract from the community’s aesthetic and wasn’t economically feasible.
Rick Anderson acquired the land and took over the development in 2017.
“NineStar came in and offered to extend a sewer line 2.5 miles from its new Maxwell plant, and this solved all our sewer issues,” Anderson said in the news release.
The developer behind The Boulders at Sugar Creek, which will have 30 custom homes on County Road 200W near Philadelphia, also had plans for its own water and wastewater facility, until the 2008 recession posed serious difficulties. NineStar Connect has since acquired the plans from the developer, Philadelphia Estates, LLC, and has begun construction on the water and wastewater facilities.
Ray Easley of Accura Land Surveying and project manager for The Boulders, said in the release that residents will not only get water and sewer services from NineStar Connect, but electric, phone and fiber as well.
“Residents only have to deal with one utility,” Easley said. “Furthermore, NineStar is a local cooperative whose board of directors and employees are our neighbors.”
NineStar is providing water to the new Gateway Hancock Health facility and that the expansion will accommodate future developments there, Burrow said.
Burrow also pointed to new residential developments that will be on the GEM system along a five-mile stretch in the area of the Mt. Comfort corridor, from County Road 300S to County Road 200N.
“These known residential subdivisions add up to over 650 lots and could double the number of users on the GEM system over the next few years and do not account for other potential developments that currently have not been made public,” he said.
The planned expansions will not require rate increases, Burrow also said.
“The cost of these capital investments will be largely born through the increase in revenues that will come with increased users on the system as it is able to handle the needs of those new users,” he said.
After taking over GEM in January, Burrow continued, NineStar Connect “made commitments to not raise any rates for 24 months while it evaluated the costs associated with operating the system.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Upcoming NineStar Connect projects
- Extension of water services between GEM water plant and new Gateway Hancock Health campus
- 500,000-gallon water tower on Gateway Hancock Health campus
- New water and wastewater treatment facilities in Philadelphia
- Extension of sewer lines at Maxwell plant north up State Road 9 to County Road 700N and then east
Source: NineStar Connect
[sc:pullout-text-end]
