Santa Rosa County and the city of Milton will apply together for a multi-million dollar federal grant that could help pay for a much-needed wastewater treatment facility in Milton as the two municipalities prepare to sign an interlocal agreement next month.
The grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration could be for a total of up to $8 million or for a partial award closer to $5 million, according to Edward Spears, director of economic development for the city of Milton.
The commission agreed at its meeting last week to co-apply with the city for the grant, which is just one part of efforts to knock down the cost of the roughly $40 million water treatment facility that will be constructed near the Blackwater River Correctional Facility.
Since the facility will be built by the city but will sit on county land, the city and county have agreed to establish an interlocal agreement. They plan to have the partnership finalized Nov. 9.
"We are in a true partnership with the county. We are in it together," Spears said. “We all agree it’s one of the single most important projects in Santa Rosa County and it's our future going together."
Cost of Milton wastewater treatment plant has ballooned
Milton planned to break ground in February 2021 on the new facility, which would almost triple the region's wastewater capacity. After a cost estimate in summer 2020, the city began requesting proposals from contractors and engineers in September 2020.
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But when the bids came in at about double the estimates just 10 days before the groundbreaking, the officials began looking for ways to knock down the cost.
Spears blames the drastic change in cost on a confluence of effects from the coronavirus pandemic.
"I think across the board, you had an increase in construction commodities, both in the labor force because you can't find anyone to work right now, and the actual cost of the materials," he said.
The city plans to utilize an assortment of county money, grants and loans to fund the project. If all goes according to plan, only about $7 million to $8 million of the cost would come directly from the city, according to Spears.
The project has an extra sense of urgency because it needs to happen within a strict timeframe. The current plant on Municipal Drive is expected to reach full capacity by the end of 2023. The new plant will replace the old facility and will process 8 million gallons of wastewater a day, compared to the current plant's 2.5 million gallon max capacity.
Spears said the city must have 50% of the effluent — the discharged water after it has been cleaned at a treatment facility — removed from Blackwater River by the end of 2023. All of it must be removed by the end of 2025.
"We're going to put all the money in that's required between the city and the county, regardless of funding sources because we have to build this," Spears said.
What's happening at the new plant's site right now?
Engineers are still surveying and testing the facility's location after it was moved roughly a quarter mile to a location with higher altitude.
"There was a grassroots effort from the community to relocate the facility to a different piece of property. The property is actually adjacent to the property we own where the facility was sited and permitted to go (earlier this year) but it's actually moving about a quarter of a mile to the northeast of its proposed location," Spears said. "And that seems to satisfy the community groups that wanted it further away from the Blackwater River and Cooper Basin."
Brad Baker, Santa Rosa County's emergency management director and interim assistant county administrator, said the facility's site is between 60% and 70% engineered.
The project is expected to create 250 new jobs, a factor that the city and county plan to stress in their application for the Economic Development Administration grant.
Spears said officials hope the plant could be under construction by summer 2022, but "that timeline could change for a million of reasons."
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Milton, Santa Rosa seek grant for wastewater plant; interlocal agreement to be signed next month