The Granville Sentinel - September 2, 1999
Utilities Proposal Erases Threat of Expansion Into Township
By Charles A. Peterson

A neighboring water-sewer district may be able to extend utilities to a Granville Township business development without the threat of venturing farther into the township.

Granville Township Trustees are currently reviewing the draft of what could be an agreement to that effect between the Southwest Licking Water & Sewer District and the nearby Granville Business Park, located on the 241 acres that was once the Dow Chemical Co. research and development center.

Key elements of the proposal are that Southwest Licking would privately contract for water and sewer service with the business park, located off Columbus Road (SR 16) and straddling the Granville-Union township line.

Granville Township Trustee Jim Havens, who along with fellow trustees is reviewing the draft, said such an arrangement would eliminate the necessity to formally expand Southwest's boundary into either township.

Southwest Licking borders on the Harrison Township line, which is across Gale Road from the business park.

What's more, the potential extension of utilities into the business development would utilize water lines of the size that would make it unfeasible to expand service farther, Havens said.

Steve Layman of Anderson Layman, who is marketing the business park for light industry, said there have been no formal overtures to Southwest Licking by 3825 Columbus Road SW, the business park owner. The business park, with just two tenants, operates with an on-site water-sewer system put in place by Dow.

However, Layman said Monday such a relationship with Southwest makes sense, considering the proximity of the park to Southwest Licking.

"It's always been part of their thought process," Layman said of the park's owners. "It would make sense eventually to stop having that central sanitary on-site system, and having public sewer nearby was a plus."

A factor in gaining outside public utilities is the fact that each business tenant could be hooked on with its own service and, therefore, its own bill.

Layman reiterated the company's sensitivity to the Granville community's wish that utilities not be expanded further into the township.

Southwest Licking officials, meanwhile, have stated several times they are not interested in expanding their territory.

"They are not interested in expanding the water and sewer district into Granville Township," Havens re-confirmed following last Wednesday's regular township meeting.

"In order that the water and sewer district not be expanded, they are willing to allow the Granville Business Park to privately contract with them to supply water and sewer services."

Granville community leaders have long been wary of the prospect of Southwest Licking as well as Granville village utilities being extended into the township, fearing they would lead to more populous housing developments.

"Southwest Licking is also very willing to permit the sizing of the lines for the water and sewer to only be large enough to serve that development," Havens said. "That means that it would not be feasible from an engineering perspective for that water and sewer service to be expanded to other users."

"The agreement seems to do what we need it to do," Havens continued. "It allows us to reestablish a tax base at the former Dow facility without increasing residential pressure on our school system. It affirms Southwest Licking's responsibilities not to expand into Granville Township, and it creates a viable barrier to permit expansion through the Dow development through other neighboring properties.