Outer Banks planning board rejects proposed development
Project heads to Southern Shores council for hearing
SOUTHERN SHORES — The Southern Shores Planning Board this week unanimously rejected SAGA Realty & Construction’s special-use permit application and accompanying mixed-used development site plan in a 5-0 vote.
The meeting, the third on the topic, concluded with applause from the audience.
The application will next move to a public hearing before the Southern Shores Town Council, but no date has been set, according to Wes Haskett, deputy town manager and planning director.
In each planning board meeting over the past three months residents have vehemently pushed back on the proposed mixed-use development planned for SAGA’s property at 6195 N. Croatan Highway in Southern Shores.
Before their vote, planning board members discussed their concerns over SAGA’s wastewater treatment plant not functioning as intended, per its permit; its continued noncompliance with state standards; the proposed project’s density; the proposed digging and filling of the site; and the proposed project not being in line with the town’s land use plan.
SAGA, doing business as GWWTP, LLC, purchased the wastewater retention pond in November 2015 and the property containing the wastewater facility equipment in March 2017, according to Dare County land transfer records.
The facility was inspected and found to be noncompliant over each of the five years from 2017-21, according to an October 2021 notice of a $2,900 civil penalty from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) Division of Water Resources.
Planning Board Chair Andy Ward read aloud some of the state testing results from February 2021 at Monday’s meeting — eliciting gasps from the audience. One measurement showed that fecal coliform bacteria present at the wastewater facility was 9,580% over the daily maximum limit and 17,185.7% over the monthly average.
The plant was still ruled noncompliant with its permit earlier this year. A March 14 inspection report by Tankard and Victoria Herdt found the plant noncompliant in 15 separate areas.
The summary said groundwater violations were present in two monitoring wells, one of which is located offsite of the wastewater plant.
It also said the generator needs to be replaced; the spray irrigation system does not work; and the disinfection system needs to be repaired because fecal results do not always meet limits.
The wastewater treatment plant currently services the 38-home Southern Shores Landing development, which is next to the property SAGA plans to develop along U.S. 158 between Martin’s Point Road and Landing Trail.
“Since they’ve owned the plant, our community has continually dealt with sewage smells,” Matthew Huband, the designated Southern Shores Landing representative, said during Monday night’s public comment. “Multiple times, the system has failed, and effluent would run out of the manhole covers and flow down Landing Trail.”
As planning board members discussed last month, the pond designated for emergency effluent disposal is being used as the only method for waste disposal currently, since the spray irrigation system has not functioned in over a decade.
SAGA’s proposed development site plan shows two three-story buildings, which would house 36 luxury condos and retail, office and restaurant space. The wastewater facility also would service the proposed development.
The company has proposed a rate hike that would more than double residents’ monthly sewage services cost “for a plant that is not fully functioning,” Huband said.
SAGA has owned the wastewater treatment plant for over 6 ½ years. The ownership team in an email acknowledged receiving notices of violations as recent as several months ago but attributed those to prior ownership.
SAGA CEO Sumit Gupta, Chief Financial Officer Prem Gupta and President Amit Gupta are listed on state documents as the wastewater treatment plant’s company officials.
The plant has been under an emergency operator order from the North Carolina Utilities Commission since Nov. 20, 2009 “due to the previous owner walking away from the plant financially and operationally,” the Guptas said in the email.
SAGA has invested over $1 million in the plant, which has been operating in a funding deficiency since the purchase, the Guptas said. The plant “needs the development of that parcel” to cover all its operating costs.
“We have made significant repairs and replacements,” they said. “We intend to keep making needed repairs so that we will be able to get needed permits from NCDEQ to extend wastewater service to our planned mixed-use project.”
They also said the spray irrigation disposal system has not been used in over 10 years because the Southern Shores Landing units do not produce enough flow to operate it.
The state will require that system to be in good working order prior to connecting additional sewer hookups to the plant. They estimated the facility will be out of emergency operations and compliant with state regulations in the next six to eight months.