September 28, 2007

Brain Teaser (dis)solved

Back in June I posted a brain teaser:
How can 1883 people pay $2,840 each and have it cover a $16,000,000 dollar tab? Think I'm all wet well your probably right! Lets see how you think it could work then in a day or two I'll share what's really happening.
Well. It's been a day or 90 so lets try to explain Wanchese water expansion.
The expansion of the system will cost $16,000,000. It will connect a total of 1883 homes. Each would pay fees totaling $2,840 to connect and connection would be mandatory. This would yield a total of $5,347,720 hardly the full amount. My question is who pays the rest of the cost?
The answer, I suspect, is that it will come from the revenues of the County water system. Revenues paid by water customers in Kitty Hawk, Southern Shores and Duck and on Hatteras Island. Water customers who have already paid to have the lines installed to provide them water without help from Roanoke Island. Put succinctly, it appears the beach is subsidizing Roanoke Island again.
There is a lot of history in Dare County water. Most of it involves fairness, really good planning and cooperation between the County, Nags Head and KDH to construct and operate 3 water plants north of Oregon Inlet. The County also took over the system on Hatteras Island and made the necessary expansions. You can read a history of the system at the Dare County Water website
Generally when land is developed water lines are installed as part of the subdivision process and the cost is included in the price of the lots. When most water systems expand into unserved areas the costs of installing distribution lines are assessed against the new properties being served, not paid by the existing rate payers. If that formula were applied to the Roanoke Island expansion each new customer would be assessed just shy of $8,500 plus the impact and connection fees of $2,840 already proposed. Imagine the hue and cry when the County tries to sell that deal.
The difference has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is the system revenues. I don't know how many customers the system serves, probably in excess of 10,000 maybe 15,000. Those customers have been paying a little more that it costs to produce water. That's good, it allows the system to maintain itself and expand as demand grows. The impact fee charged by the county to new customers in developed areas can be seen as a "buy in" to the system. Existing users have paid for the production facilities and when you hook up you pay your share. It doesn't generally cover extending lines.
Ok, so what,who cares! The beach may be paying some of the costs of expanding the water system on Roanoke Island, no big deal. Your water bill won't go up so why care. Well for one thing its not fair. The County won't pay to put lines in for new customers on the beach why do it for new customers elsewhere? Secondly, the expansion of the water system will facilitate growth. Richard Johnson is correct when he says that zoning controls growth but there are other factors as well. If you want to build in areas without central water and wastewater you must site both on your property. That's not too hard for a single family home on a single lot but try to do it for a large multi-family development and it gets much harder. Imagine Pirates Cove having to provide is own water and sewer, it takes land and money and it quickly becomes impractical. That's why Pirates Cove wanted to be part of Manteo. Its why Manteo guards its sewer capacity so closely, they understand the relationship between density and central services.
From where I sit the expansion looks like a bad deal all the way around. Wanchese doesn't want it, the beach shouldn't have to pay for it and it will facilitate high density development. Why is this being considered?
There are two good reasons for the extension, drought and fire. I am writing this in Greensboro, a city with about 160 days of water left in its reserves and severe water use controls in place. Wells in Wanchese are much more susceptible to drought than the central system. Replacing them will help the owners avoid future problems. The fire issue is straight forward as well. A central water supply aids fire suppression and lowers insurance rates, both good things.
I have no clue how this will end. My hunch is that the county will simply let it die for now. The opposition is too entrenched, the margin of loss in a referendum might make folks forget other recent policy rejections (I can hope). Anyway it will make for interesting reading.
The numbers I have used are taken from the Coastland Times. They seem right. They fit with a proposal by the Roanoke Island Volunteer Fire Dept. to use fire tax revenues to reduce the charges. I may have missed something but I don't think so. Basically, the county is offering new customers on Roanoke Island a really sweet deal at the expense of its existing retail customers. The only problem is the ones getting the deal think they are getting the shaft. Thats local government for you.
Ciao.

September 26, 2007

KDH loses battle with NC Power

Back in May I outlined the dispute between the Town of Kill Devil Hills and NC Dominion Power over the location of overhead transmission lines.
On the 18th of this month the Commission released an order overturning a KDH zoning ordinance that required a single corridor for power lines in the town. This clears the way for NC Power to construct a transmission line from Kitty Hawk Road to the existing transmission lines on Rt. 158 near the YMCA in Nags Head.
I can't copy the text of the order so I will try to summarize. The NC Utilities Commission first established that KDH zoning rules infringed on the Commission's area of authority therefore the ordinance was preempted by the Commission's authority. The Commission went on to find that the ordinance that wasn't legal also made it impossible for NC Power to provide for the power needs of its customers so it was set aside on those grounds as well. This is 28 pages in about 2 sentences so if you want the full impact read the order or at least read the last 2 pages. Thats where the final findings and order are.
This ruling was not a surprise. I picked NC Power to win in May. KDH probably has the option of a suit to challenge the Commission's decision but it would be a very tough fight to win. My bet is that the Town gives way and tells its citizens that they tried as hard as they could but the cards were stacked against them, which is absolutely true.

Note: I have been away and I keep thinking someone must have reported this story but I can't find it. If this is old news sorry.

To those who have wondered why this site has been so quiet, thanks for your concern. I am fine just busy. I have a couple of projects that I am involved in and they have been taking a lot of time and energy. My plans are to post when I have time and a good subject but not as frequently as earlier this year. We'll see what happens.
Ciao

September 11, 2007

9-11 Reflections

This is a good day to be with friends. Paula and Sammy invited me to join some of their friends as we all remember that terrible day. Please join us and check the recent posts section to find all the 9-11 remembrances. You won't regret it.
Ciao

September 9, 2007

STORM QUICKLOOK Home


I was looking for tide information this morning and I came across a new hurricane info site, ;STORM QUICKLOOK Home , Click on the link for a specific storm, in this case Gabrielle
You get a nicely scaled map with the sites that NOAA uses to track water leves. On the right is the most recent advisory and at the bottom a set of links to water level data. Water level data lets you see where we are in a tide cycle (high tide to low) and how much storm surge is affecting tide levels. Neat stuff.

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September 7, 2007

Post 301 - Friends and our virtual community


I noticed that VFtR has 300 posts. This is 301. I missed the 2 year anniversary back in July so this will have to pass as celebration.
What better topic than friends. Through this medium I have met any number of really interesting people. Wonderful people and wonderful dogs. I was relieved to learn that Sammy the Surf Dog, bane of piping plovers, protector of the Twin Princessi, and friend to all surfer dudes and dudetts (especially Paula) should recover fully.
This has been a bad summer for dogs. First Kevin's longtime companion Marley got fitted with the dreaded cone, then we had that whole Michael Vick tragedy (travesty) and now Sammy gets hit by a drunk driver, a fu***ng drunk driver. Shoot Him. I believe in capital punishment for drunk drivers who hit anyone including man and woman's best friend. Especially man and woman's best friend.
I haven't heard anything about Sammy's condition in the last couple of days. I expect that Sammy is resting at home tonight. I certainly hope so. I also hope he knows how much we love everyone in Sammyland. They are all special people. Special friends I met only because of the blogosphere.
This summer has been my summer of virtual identity. I have met and now communicate with people around the world through this blog and Flickr. There are people in Dubai who know more about my photography that you do. That's not a slur on you but a statement about the amazing world we live in.
Sammy, dude, your my hero. Get back on the blog. I'll spot for you. We miss you.
Now on to 302.