Falling through the cracks

Landowner says he can’t afford price to irrigate his business

Strict policies regarding Anniston and Oxford water service boundaries are apparently stifling one local resident’s land development efforts.

Anniston resident and commercial real estate agent Skip Ward is trying to grow a five-acre pumpkin patch and corn maze for the fall season but needs water. His property at 461 Jones Road is in Anniston’s water service jurisdiction but right next to Oxford’s.

To use Anniston’s service, he’d have to pay $22,000 to extend a water line to his property. At a cost of $300, Ward could instead use an existing Oxford water line that goes past his property.

However, Oxford cannot provide Ward with service without violating a federal court order regarding the two cities’ boundaries. Without water service, Ward has had to water his crops by hand.

“It’s hard watering with pitchers … I’m tired,” Ward said. “It takes a good three to four hours just to water the pumpkins. I’ve lost about 1,000 pumpkins because I couldn’t keep them watered.”

The federal order stems from a 2008 lawsuit settlement between Anniston and Oxford over which municipality would provide water to the Kronospan factory in Bynum. The plant produces wood-based panels and particle board, and uses hundreds of thousands of gallons of water every day.

The lawsuit sought to stop Oxford from providing water and sewer service to Kronospan, which the Anniston water board said was in its service area. In May 2008, a mediation session split the services. Anniston would provide water to the Kronospan plant and Oxford would provide its sewer services.

The two boards also formed agreements mapping out each one’s service areas to avoid future disputes.

“Sometimes stuff slips through the cracks,” Wayne Livingston, general manager for the Oxford Water Works and Sewer Board said about Ward’s situation. “But we don’t have a say-so in Anniston. If they didn’t okay it, we’re not going to do it.”

Jim Miller, general manager for the Anniston Water Works and Sewer Board, and Livingston agreed allowing Oxford to service Ward’s Anniston property was probably not a good idea.

“We’d be in contempt of a federal court order,” Miller said. “We just don’t want to go there.”

Ward said when he planted his crops he assumed he had water service like all the other properties on Jones Street. When he learned about the $22,000 line-extension fee and that Anniston would not allow Oxford to provide service, he was appalled.

“(Anniston) says they want to bring tourism to the area, well this is agri-tourism,” Ward said. “Anniston likes to shoot its own citizens in the foot.”

In addition to a pumpkin patch and corn maze, the site would feature hayrides, spots for cookouts, concessions and other games.

However, Miller said the fee to extend the water line was appropriate and would be charged to any land developer.

“The way ours is set up is like everyone else … he who benefits pays the price,” Miller said. “We don’t put that cost on everybody else.”

Lee Young, general manager for Piedmont Waterworks, Gas and Sewer, said most all water systems have similar rules, adding his system has had such a policy for about 20 years.

“Our policy is (the developer) buys the materials and we put it in,” Young said. “It’s not the regular customers’ responsibility, we don’t think, to subsidize that.”

Without a sprinkler system, Ward said he and his workers would have to keep watering the site and hope there is more rainfall in the near future.

“It’s unfortunate for him and if there was anything I could have done for him, I would have done it,” Miller said.

Contact staff writer Patrick McCreless at 256-2353561.