Detailed Information

Yes, all City Commission meetings are viewable on the City’s website, including the December 7, 2020 Commission Workshop.

Download the Preliminary Cost Estimates and General Sequencing of Master Plan Report.

No. As shown on page 8 of the above report, the City’s Urban Service Area Boundary, marked in red, specifically excludes North Port Estates, Lake Geraldine, Orange Hammock and portions of the City out east, where either larger lots and/or existing sparse population can be supported by individual well and septic tanks. Therefore, extending central services to those areas is not planned or anticipated. Eventually, if the densities in the ¼ acre lots in the eastern portion of the City can no longer be supported by onsite infrastructure, Utilities would recommend a revision to the Urban Service Area Boundary to extend to the eastern boundary of the City.

City of North Port Commissioners have approved a maximum amount for existing homeowners who hook up to the municipal system during the construction process utilizing the early incentive program at $2,255 for wastewater and $5,654 for water and wastewater service. Commission also approved a 30-year payment plan and a hardship program. After construction is complete and the participation period for the early incentive program has passed, homeowners would be required to pay the full amount of the construction cost and capacity fees which could total $35,000.

Staff will be recommending that the construction be bid including the on-site costs to allow for the greatest savings possible. Those who choose to have the on-site work done at the time will benefit from the cost savings due to the economies of scale and will be allowed to include these costs in the 30-year payment plan. However, you will also be able to hire your own plumber if that is what you choose.

Twelve years ago, the citizens of Sarasota County approved a penny tax to help fund infrastructure projects. One of the many infrastructure projects selected in North Port, as well as many other communities, was to extend central water and wastewater. The penny tax fund is the source of payment for the design and is one of the ways staff is recommending to help offset the future cost to connect for existing residents.

At the rate that is dedicated from Surtax funds, it is estimated to take nearly a millennium to complete. While Utilities’ recommendation will be to offset existing residents’ contribution as much as possible, some portion will need to be funded by the residents to ensure timeliness. At some point in the future, the City will be forced to install central services, or stop issuing building permits in certain areas, or potentially in the entire City.

The City has been master planning utilities for decades. For water, the City currently has 7.27 million gallons per day of capacity with another 1 million gallons per day being constructed in the West Villages Improvement District. The consumption currently being used is approximately 3 million gallons per day, and we have approximately 22,500 customers, so we have ample room to grow to serve tens of thousands of new connections. For wastewater, the City currently has 9 million gallons per day of capacity. The consumption currently being used is approximately 2.3 million gallons per day and we have approximately 18,500 customers, so we have ample room to grow to serve tens of thousands of new connections.

The plan to extend central services to the platted lot areas does have the potential to benefit some of the neighborhood commercial, for instance, some of the red-designated properties on the map below. (View a larger, more detailed map.(PDF, 3MB))

The plan to extend central services to the platted lot areas does have the potential to benefit some of the neighborhood commercial, for instance, some of the red-designated properties on the map here. However, all of the properties within the Activity Centers, and even the neighborhood commercial that is required to connect to central services would be responsible for designing, permitting, installing and dedicating to the City, all utility infrastructure necessary to serve their developments. If an incoming commercial developer is not building on a property that was required to dedicate infrastructure to the City, they would then have to pay the same (proportional to their demand) amounts for line extensions as a residential property would incur, so they are either sharing the cost of the infrastructure or installing all necessary infrastructure themselves.

This is a unique situation; one North Port has never done before. This Economic Development project is being funded out of Surtax and will be reimbursed to the fund from the commercial development that develop businesses out there. This is not being funded by any residents.

North Port has consistently made investments and improvements in our wastewater infrastructure over the last three decades, maintaining and expanding a system that is nearly six decades old. However, on the residential septic side, some of which are not that much newer, it is uncertain if the same investments and improvements have been made, in addition to the fact that septic tanks do not reduce nitrogen and phosphorous, like central wastewater plants do. This combined with the high water table in Florida and density of some areas, can lead to nutrient issues. Many other similar communities with inadequate infrastructure, left by the bankruptcy of General Development Corporation have begun projects to some degree, to mitigate the environmental impacts of this situation. North Port is not first.

An individual properly working septic tank on sufficient land may not do damage to the environment. Concentrated septic tanks, as what exists, or will exist, in some areas of the City, can have a deleterious effect on the environment by increasing nitrogen reaching the surficial aquifer which ultimately intersects surface water bodies.

Once installed a well and septic tank do not generate a monthly bill, however, they are certainly not free to operate. The well requires power to pump the water and ultimately both will need maintenance and repair. If water treatment equipment is deployed that adds to the maintenance and repair such as the addition of salt or other chemicals to the system. Maintenance and repair can run from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars if a new drainfield is required for the septic tank or the well needs to be deepened or re-drilled.

Yes.

While we are not real estate professionals, generally lots/houses with central water and wastewater service available to them generally increase the value of the property.

Blue green algal blooms and red tide have been in the news frequently over the last few years. The science on red tide blooms is still evolving and the level of anthropogenic inputs into the blooms have not been quantified, however it seems that it is a component of the issue. The blue green algal blooms are more directly tied to increased nutrient, nitrogen and phosphorus, levels in the freshwater waterways.

Disinfection is required by the Safe Drinking Water Act. The City disinfects its potable water with chloramines and a residual is maintained in the distribution system, again required by law, to ensure that water remains safe from a microbial standpoint. The residual levels are less than the maximum allowed by the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Septic tanks are designed to breakdown the organic waste they receive. Septic tanks are not designed to removed nutrients. With enough drainfield and native soil the ammonia received by a septic tank is converted by bacteria to nitrate and then by different bacteria in the soil to nitrogen gas. If sufficient drainfield is not available the nitrogen cycle is not completed and the nitrate infiltrates ultimately ending up in waterways and increases algal and plant growth.

No, septic tanks are designed to drain homes, breakdown the organic waste and ‘leach’ the water via a drainfield.

Yes, the EPA has this information on their website, however, the first sentence explains that septic systems are commonly used in rural areas without centralized sewer systems. North Port agrees, rural areas, like in the North Port Estates area and the platted lots east of the Urban Service Area boundary meet these criteria and are currently not planned for central systems. Due to the size of the lots, the North Port Estates area and Lake Geraldine are the two areas in North Port that will always be on well and septic.