Politics

County nears decision on Edneyville sewer service

Commissioners voted Monday to move forward with a combination gravity sewer line and force main along U.S. 64 to serve Edneyville Elementary School. The line would connect to the city of Hendersonville’s sewer line at North Henderson High School.

By Bill Moss, Published: December 3, 2025

After devoting yet another lengthy discussion to the topic, Henderson County commissioners edged closer than ever on Monday to a solution to provide public sewer to the last public school in the county that has none.

The solution costs less and does less than a more comprehensive project that became infeasible when the state Legislature pulled a $12.7 million grant that had been earmarked to fund it.

The board voted unanimously to direct engineers to seek bids on a scaled-back project that would serve Edneyville Elementary School with a sewer line powered by a pump station on U.S. 64 at Henderson Creek. That’s a fraction of the scope of service the county envisioned when it designed, received bids and tentatively awarded a contract for a sewer system that would serve the WNC Justice Academy, Camp Judea, businesses along U.S. 64 and other landowners. The board voted to award a $14 million contract for the job in early October, only to learn two weeks later that the General Assembly had shifted a $12.7 million grant from Edneyville to the county-owned Etowah sewer system, which needs major repairs.

“So when this board found out that the legislature had repurposed that $12.7 million, it put this board in a position that there’s no way we can legally sign that contract because the pre-audit says we don’t have the money to pay for it,” said board Chair Bill Lapsley, who has been a vocal critic of the surprise decision in Raleigh.

The solution appears to be now a cheaper option that would cost the county $6 million. County Engineer Marcus Jones presented four options:

• Option 1: The original project, at a cost of $13 million, for which the county no longer has grant money.
• Option 2: Serving Edneyville Elementary, which it chose to pursue.
• Option 3: A pump station at the school but with a different scope from the currently designed project.
• Option 4: drop the project.

To do option 3, “We’d have to start over” with design, permitting and bidding, Jones said. If commissioners chose option 4, “We’d save a lot of money today but tomorrow we’ll be going further in the hole.”

The work involved to do option 2, on the other hand, was included in the larger project contractors bid weeks ago. The project has been designed and permitted and easements have been acquired.

“So this option that you’re looking at could proceed on a rather short time schedule,” Lapsley said. “If you change, you have to start over and it could take two to three years.”

Will Buie, the county’s consulting engineer, confirmed that option 2 presented the simplest path.

“We’ll have to take those plans, we’ll take three or four of the pages out, throw them away,” he said. “We put that back on the street, request bids — you’re looking at probably a couple of months to advertise, get pricing and have that number in hand back in front of you.”

The option also achieves the primary objective that started the whole Edneyville sewer discussion back in 2017: It serves the new elementary school, which has a capacity of 800 pupils but is capped at 600 kids because of the failing septic system.

Apple country concerns

The discussion made clear that commissioners are sensitive to the political winds in the apple country surrounding the project.

Both state Rep. Jennifer Balkcom and state Sen. Tim Moffitt have acknowledged that constituents in the farm community have warned that public sewer could be the catalyst to turn Chimney Rock Road into the next Four Seasons Boulevard.

Commissioners emphasized that can’t happen — for one key reason, as Jones explained.

“You have gravity mains — gravity sewer lines that run downhill and carry wastewater by the force of gravity. Expensive to put in, but very inexpensive to maintain and operate,” he said. “The gravity sewer lines — you can accept customers connected to it. The red force main line — you can’t serve customers —the state’s DEQ rule prohibits that,” he said.

Lapsley said: “We have been peppered with comments from people that if this board decides to do this option that we will be encouraging major development along Highway 64. What I’m hearing you say, is that if this board decides to proceed with this sewer option, we are not opening up the world, so to speak, for growth and development by the construction of this sewer system.”

“Your assessment is correct,” Jones responded. “Red line (force main) is not a part of the system that we can offer services from.”

Commissioner Jay Egolf, who won election in 2024 on a managed growth platform, said although option 2 does include a short gravity line, the elected board would decide whether to allow commercial or high-density uses.

“If someone comes up to me and says, ‘You’re allowing all this development in Edneyville with this option,’ it would not be,” he said. “It would be no tie-ins, and then the green-part gravity line along Henderson Creek, we would be in charge of zoning.”

Before the board’s decision to move ahead, Lapsley again expressed his frustration with the decision in Raleigh that erased the original sewer project.

“The removal of $12.7 million to fund this project has had a dramatic impact on whether we can proceed at all, whether it’s in the original scope that has been designed, bid, awarded, or a reduced scope,” he said. “This board has to figure out how we’re going to fund the project and to what extent we’re going to fund it.”

“This project is the gift that keeps on giving,” Jones cracked. “I’ve made a career off of it almost.”