Milton planners approve Tidewater site plans
Milton Planning and Zoning Commission approved final site plans for Tidewater Environmental Services’ new wastewater treatment plant on Sam Lucas Road April 20.
Tidewater officials said they plan to begin construction on the plant in early 2022 with an eye toward having the new facility operational by mid-2023.
Tina Gardner, Tidewater spokeswoman, said the company anticipates bidding the project later this summer and opening bids sometime in the fall. The plant will be situated on five acres of land on Sam Lucas Road given to Tidewater by the town for the express purpose of building the new facility. Once the new plant is online, the existing building on Front Street will be demolished and the land given back to the town.
Treated effluent from Tidewater will continue to be discharged into the Broadkill River, which is already permitted by Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and will not be opposed once Tidewater moves to the new site. Tidewater will have to construct new piping from the new plant to the discharge site and build a new pump station.
A new Milton wastewater facility has been a long time coming. The existing plant was built in the 1960s and operated by the town until 2007, when it was sold to Tidewater. For years, both Tidewater and the town have had a mutual interest in either relocating or upgrading the plant. Both sides want a system that will better be able to handle future growth in the area, and the town wanted the plant off the Broadkill River. Tidewater needed an upgraded or new plant in order to better meet treatment requirements and accommodate modern wastewater technology.
The sticking point for many years was land, a problem that was solved when Loblolly LLC, the property management arm of Draper Holdings, owners of WBOC and WRDE TV, gave the town 10 acres on an 80-acre parcel the company owned on Sam Lucas Road. The town turned around and gave 5 acres to Tidewater for the plant while the other five remained with the town.
The new plant will be capable of treating 350,000 gallons of wastewater per day with more advanced technology to remove nitrogen from the effluent, officials say.
“In order to meet the ever-evolving and changing treatment requirements, it is necessary for Tidewater to completely replace the existing plant with a new plant,” Gardner said.
Tidewater was granted its construction permits by DNREC in January 2020, and officials said construction would begin that summer. But that didn’t happen, in part because of additional governmental approvals Tidewater needed to get. Gardner said Tidewater had to design and get approvals for the force main construction, pump station improvements and water main construction. In addition, she said, Tidewater had to acquire easements and approvals for stormwater management, the entrance to the plant, and fire prevention.
“There is a lot of coordination with numerous parties involved every step of the way,” Gardner said.
