Keysers Ridge wastewater treatment plant, Last Mile broadband on list
Elaine Blaisdell
— OAKLAND — The Garrett County commissioners submitted to the Appalachian Regional Commission a $900,000 funding request for a wastewater treatment plant at Keysers Ridge Business Park and a $250,000 funding request for the Last Mile Wireless Network Broadband Phase 3 project.
The preliminary list of projects was presented during the commission meeting Tuesday.
A plant is needed at the business park to serve both residents and businesses for the future development of the park. Currently, residents are using septic systems and businesses are receiving wastewater service from Bruceton Farm Service, a private entity that no longer wants to provide those services, according to the preliminary project description.
The Maryland Department of the Environment has issued a complaint and consent order tothe Bruceton Farm Service wastewater treatment plant, which is located on National Pike in Grants
ville.MDE has determined there was failure to comply with permit discharge limits for contaminants, including ammonia-nitrogen, from 2007 to 2013 to an unnamed tributary of Puzzley Run. Bruceton must pay $40,000 in penalty fees to MDE and will pay additional significant penalty fees for any additional violations of its renewal permit.
Since Bruceton’s service is antiquated, the commissioners are proposing a new $1.8 million wastewater treatment plant to terminate discharges from the Bruceton plant. The $900,000 ARC funding request will be met with a $900,000 state/local match. Matching funds for water infrastructure are being secured from the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development and a discharge permit has already been obtained from MDE.
The new plant will service 50,000 gallons per day to meet the needs of the business park and 23 residential customers.
“There has been recent significant investment into the Keysers Ridge Business Park, accentuating the need for this project,” states the preliminary project description.
In April 2013, the Maryland Economic Development Corp. transferred more than 180 acres of land valued at $2.5 million to the commissioners to develop the park. In September 2013, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development entered into an agreement with the commissioners, providing $625,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding to partially finance the construction of a 12,000square-foot building in the park.
