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Tidewater to build new wastewater plant

Land deal pending Milton council approval
August 13, 2018

Story Location:
Sam Lucas Road
Milton, DE 19968
United States

Tidewater Utilities, owner of Milton’s wastewater treatment plant, is close to a deal that would allow the company to build a new wastewater treatment plant off Sam Lucas Road.

The deal has not yet been ratified by town council, but Tidewater President Jerry Esposito said the terms are as follows: 10 acres of privately owned land would be given to the town, which would deed five acres to Tidewater to build the new plant.

Esposito said the terms of the deal have been worked out between all parties, but the clock starts ticking once council approves the transaction, which is expected in September. From there, he said, Tidewater would have 18 to 24 months to complete the project. Esposito said construction should take 12 to 15 months. He anticipates the new plant being up and running by fall 2020.

The new plant has been discussed for more than a decade, since Tidewater purchased the plant  on Front Street from the town in 2007. Esposito said the current plant is 70 years old and badly out of date.

“The Milton plant is one of the last like it in Delaware,” he said.

Esposito said the original plan was to build a new plant on the site of the old one, but not long after the company bought the plant, the economy tanked, bringing development - and the need for additional wastewater treatment capacity - to a halt.

A new plant was discussed in 2014, when Tidewater presented two options: build a new facility on Sam Lucas Road or build a new plant at the Front Street site. At the time, Tidewater could not get the rights to the Sam Lucas Road property, and town council wanted to get the plant away from the Broadkill River.

That changed, Esposito said, when the late Tom Draper, under the corporate entity Loblolly, purchased 80 acres of property on Sam Lucas Road. He said it was Draper, who died in September 2017, who sought to buy the land for the town. Esposito said other than the new plant, there are no plans to develop any other parts of the property. He said the new plant would be a state-of-the-art, tertiary treatment facility. Tertiary treatment removes nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as organic solids, from raw wastewater and produces a high-quality water. In addition, Esposito said, the plant would have double the capacity of the current plant in order to serve the town’s future growth.

Esposito said it would take about six months to completely demolish the old plant. From there, the town would take the land back. Mayor Ted Kanakos has said he would like to see the property become a park; another idea broached at council’s Aug. 6 meeting is a dog park at the site.

Councilman Sam Garde said, “That is very precious land, and there have been a lot of suggestions for how to use it.”

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