West Bountiful City Council passed Ordinance #483-24 on April 16 – signifying the start of the South Davis Sewer District’s 12.66-acre annexation.

Making updates to their 65-year-old facility, the entity plans to increase their capabilities and future-proof their operations with the acquired space.

“We think in probably 20 years or so, maybe, hopefully, longer, we’ll probably face more stringent standards or we will also be facing the end of use life for some of our current operating assets,” Matt Myer, general manager for the South Davis Sewer District said. “The regulators, [the] Division of Water Quality, they enforce the Clean Water Act here, which is a strict liability statute which means there’s no excuse for not meeting your permitted numbers, and so they would fully expect us to be able to construct a new plant while operating the existing plant and then flop over once the new plant’s constructed.”

Though the space has been acquired, some residential land poses limitations to current development possibilities. According to Myer, the two homes located on the sewer district’s property were purchased by the entity roughly two decades ago with a life estate agreement – which allowed the tenants to sell their home at market value but maintain the option to reside in the property as long as they’d like.

“With this current upgrade that we’re looking at, those two homes are not directly impacted by the construction and the new treatment processes that we will be installing either,” Lanese Hendrickson, assistant general manager of the South Davis Sewer District said.

According to Myer, the changes that will affect these residents will be an increase in truck construction as well as potential electrical disruptions during construction.

As for West Bountiful residents outside of the sewer district’s property, Myers says that the most prominent changes affecting citizens will be added traffic on Frontage Road and rate increases. 

A project estimated to cost $60-$70 million, the sewer district plans to cover some of the costs by issuing bonds. A public hearing for rate increases is expected to occur in June, according to Myers.

“We understand that we have had a pretty good slew of increases recently and we’re frustrated by it,” Myer said. “We’re committed going forward to trying to keep our rate increases much more manageable.”

An approval process that began with a notice of intent on Nov. 16, 2023, the sewer district’s petition for annexation was accepted by the City Council on Feb. 20 and notice of its certification was mailed to all affected entities nine days later. The planning commission unanimously voted to recommend an assignment of Agricultural Specialty District to the property on March 12 – the current categorization of the sewer plant according to the City Council’s minutes.

“We really like working with West Bountiful,” Myer said. “They’re a really good city to work with. We have a great working relationship. We help them out with things that we do well and they help us out with things that they do well.”

Myer said that the sewer district is in a bidding phase right now and that the project is likely to be awarded by May 16.