Think Countywide On Water and Sewer

A divided Moore County Board of Commissioners has turned down an offer by the Pinehurst Village Council to purchase the water and sewer systems that serve the village. Last week’s 3-2 vote apparently set in stone the commissioners’ position that the systems are not for sale. Given the need for a countywide utility system, that’s for the best — if, and only if, the county clearly commits itself to a unified system, makes the necessary investments in the Pinehurst system’s infrastructure, and protects the areas to be served by a countywide system with stronger, rigorously enforced zoning.

Pinehurst offered to buy the systems for $8 million. The purchase would have been contingent upon approval by village voters of a bond issue to finance the transaction and future bond issues to pay for $18 million in capital improvements the Village Council says are needed. A majority of commissioners feel that offer is too low.

The three commissioners voting in the majority — Paul Helms, Bob Ewing and David Cummings — cited the need for a countywide system as part of their reason for turning Pinehurst down. The earlier establishment by the county of the East Moore Water District provides some evidence that commissioners want to move in that direction. With the sale of the Pinehurst system off the commissioners’ table, Moore County municipalities with their own systems should take a new look at joining a countywide operation.

The $18 million in improvements that Pinehurst says are needed are probably debatable, but there is no doubt that substantial improvements need to be made to the aging system. To its credit, the county has made $1.8 million in improvements to the Pinehurst system in the past two years and has budgeted another $2.3 million for the fiscal year that begins Monday. In the interest of public health, safety and quality growth in the village, commissioners should continue making those kinds of investments every year for the forseeable future.

Pinehurst has in place a strong zoning ordinance that preserves the resort town’s environment and atmosphere. The county zoning ordinance is another matter. It is woefully weak in some respects, and with the growth that is in the offing for our county — particularly in the East Moore Water District — stronger regulations are needed now. Zoning should not be used to stop growth, but it is a legitimate tool for controlling it, for ensuring that the process is environmentally and aesthetically sound. The availability of water should not pave the way for shabby and costly strip development.

By all indications, the Pinehurst offer to purchase the utility systems is water under the bridge. But continued ownership by the county places upon our commissioners the responsibility to properly maintain and improve that system, to move toward countywide utility services and to put in place the kind of zoning that will make those services a means of orderly, controlled growth.