Town of Waynesville Manager Rob Hites was hired in August 2016 knowing the Town of Waynesville Sewer system was failing and his job would be to oversee a new sewer system. After seven years of studies and price increases, only to finally start construction after the State of NC placed a moratorium on construction in 2022, shows citizens he wasn't the man for the job. Citizens considered it a blessing and a curse because it stopped the uncontrolled housing and apartment growth until the estimated completion date of 2025, but it also stops the construction of any industry, department store or restaurant from being built until 2025 unless they use an existing building with equal sewer capacity. Citizens of the Town of Waynesville will see the price of this 29.5 million loan for a new sewer plant reflected on their bill as stated in the Mountaineer article posted below. "Paying off the loan over time will be absorbed by sewer customers, and not just those in Waynesville. The plant handles sewage from Clyde to Lake Junaluska to lower Crabtree." Posted below is a timeline of the sewer plant fiasco and how it has evolved.
https://www.themountaineer.com/news/to- ... 7fcb7.html
May 2022: WLOS Waynesville is under a sewer moratoriam
https://wlos.com/news/local/waynesville ... n-feichter
May 2022: Untreated Waste pouring into Richaland Creek and the Pigeon River. The Town of Waynesville is fined
https://www.themountaineer.com/news/her ... e9b85.html
May 2022: The State of NC issues a special order of consent which limits building
https://www.themountaineer.com/news/her ... e9b85.html
March 2022: A rash of large-scale developments have nearly maxed out the capacity for the town's sewer treatment plant that would bring growth to a screeching halt. State regulators warned the town more than three years ago the day would come when the failing sewer plant couldn't handle anymore volume.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/sew ... 00318.html
March 2022: Frustration over more and more big development hits boiling point in Waynesville. The sewer moratorium is discussed.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/frustration- ... 00914.html
January 2022: The Mountaineer reported the sewer plant had jumped from 19.5 million to 27 million.
https://sports.yahoo.com/sticker-shock- ... 00668.html
January 2022: Smoky Mountain News reports price of new sewer plant jumped from 19 million to 28 million.
https://smokymountainnews.com/archives/ ... er-project
January 2021: Hites, an admittedly groupie when it comes to sewer plants, so much so the first dinner date with his wife was capped off with a tour of the sewer plant in the town where he worked at the time. He also oversaw a sewer plant rebuild in his previous manager role before coming to Waynesville.
https://www.themountaineer.com/news/sew ... -at-last/a
November 2019: Rob Hites states the failing 1960's sewer plant is on its last leg and under a best case scenario it won't be completed until 2023.
https://www.themountaineer.com/news/smo ... 41dda.html
January 2019: Rob Hites states Waynesville will wrap up over two years of preliminary analysis and studies by McGill Engineering out of Asheville, bringing the total spent to date on planning and analysis to $300,000. Next is the formal engineering and design phase that will last for two years, with construction getting underway in 2022.
https://www.themountaineer.com/news/the ... b8162.html
September 2018: Mountaineer article, The state turns up the heat on Waynesville over failing sewer plant. Rob Hites stated "Now we have a dog nipping at our heels. That may be a terrible analogy, but that's what it is. The hammer is over us right now and if we ignore this, there will be a moratorium".
https://www.themountaineer.com/news/sta ... 05980.html
August 2018: Since 2016 the Town of Waynesville's wastewater treatment plant has received 41 notices of violations and racked up $14,000 in fines for violating the state/federal clean water standards.
https://www.themountaineer.com/news/way ... 5fbcd.html
