SNOW HILL – At the request of Frontier Town, the Worcester County Commissioners this week agreed to extend sewer service down Route 611 to the campground.
Following a public hearing Tuesday, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve extending the Mystic Harbour Sanitary Service Area to include Frontier Town and the properties across the road from it. Attorney Hugh Cropper presented the request on behalf of Sun Communities, owner of Frontier Town.
“It’s where these properties should be served,” Cropper said.
According to Bob Mitchell, the county’s director of environmental programs, the expansion of the service area would involve Frontier Town purchasing 166 Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDUs). That wastewater treatment capacity would serve the existing campground and the 213-site expansion planned for the near future.
Cropper said expanding the service area would enable Frontier Town to eliminate its existing drain fields — a good move for the environment — and would allow Frontier Town to expand.
“It’s a win-win all around,” he said, adding that increasing the number of camp sites at Frontier Town would mean there’d be less of a commercial focus to the property.
He said the expansion of the service area was desirable in terms of the health and welfare of the county.
“It utilizes the plant you just upgraded,” he said, pointing out that the sale of EDUs to his client would help pay for those upgrades. “I think it’s a positive.”
Brandywine Lane resident Bud Shanley was concerned that extending the service would prompt more development.
“We live in an environmentally fragile area,” he said.
He pointed out that increasing the number of campsites at Frontier Town would also increase the number of people on Route 611 in that area. He said the intersection with Route 376 was already a dangerous one where traffic tended to back up during the summer.
“That area is becoming quite congested and quite dangerous,” he said. “When you increase it by 213 people what are you doing about that concentration of people?”
Mitchell said extending the service area to Frontier Town would only provide a handful of other properties with access to sewer. He pointed out that connecting the campground to Mystic Harbour would eliminate its dependence on a septic system. He said the nearby Castaway’s campground was already connected to sewer.
“The entire watershed is moving in the right direction,” Mitchell said.
Following his comments the commissioners voted to approve the change.
