Public/Private Partnership Adds Capacity and Funds to Beaufort

A public-private partnership is helping fund a $15-million wastewater treatment expansion in the town of Beaufort, North Carolina.

Cary-based Preston Development Corp. has teamed with Front Street Village to provide $6 million for the expansion, which will provide the extra capacity needed to accommodate residential developments planned by the two companies. In exchange, the town will provide wastewater treatment for the communities.

Preston, representing Blue Treasure LLC, is planning to develop Beaufort East Village, a 273-acre community that will include approximately 600 residential units, a kayak storage and launch facility for a planned recreational lake, a clubhouse, pools, a church, a general store and nearly 100 acres of open space adjacent to Front Street Village, also in Beaufort.

Originally, Preston planned to treat wastewater for Beaufort East Village through an onsite 350,000-gpd membrane bioreactor wastewater treatment facility. But while the planning and design were under way for Preston’s facility, the town of Beaufort was in the midst of replacing its own wastewater plant with a 1.5-mgd facility.

Not wanting to enter the wastewater treatment business, Preston and Front Street Village approached the town with an idea. If the town would provide centralized wastewater treatment for the two new communities, the communities would agree to be annexed. In addition, the developers would pay for the additional infrastructure required to increase capacity of the Beaufort wastewater treatment plant to 1.85 mgd to accommodate the new customers.

It was a win-win scenario—the developers would be able to offer their new residents centralized sewer, and the town would get additional wastewater capacity and a larger tax base. “We’ve increased our capacity to 1.85 mgd and, by doing a lot of  infiltration and inflow work, we have reduced our load significantly,” says John Young Beaufort’s public works director. “This has been nothing but a plus to the town.”

According to the NPDES permit, the town cannot discharge more than 1.5 mgd into Taylor Creek. To accommodate the increased capacity, McKim & Creed designed a 350,000-gpd high-rate infiltration basin for Beaufort East Village. “It’s basically a large earthen basin that allows for infiltration and dispersal of 350,000 gallons per day of highly treated wastewater into the surficial aquifer,” says Chuck Riley, PE, senior project engineer for McKim & Creed. A perforated drain line surrounds the infiltration basin to lower the groundwater level during wet weather and to provide irrigation capability or pump excess groundwater to a groundwater amenities pond, where it will then overflow into 404 wetlands.

“Historical Concepts of Atlanta studied Beaufort and developed a vision for the project in keeping with the community, and McKim & Creed developed the technical design and engineering to deal with the wastewater,” says Karl Blackley of Preston Development. “Together we have a great new project approved in Beaufort and are ready to construct.”

This conceptual land use plan for Beaufort East Village was developed by Historical Concepts. “McKim & Creed has been an extremely valuable partner in getting the original approval and the necessary permits from the state of North Carolina and working with the town of Beaufort,” says Karl Blackley of Preston Development. (Image courtesy of Preston Development)

Beaufort East Village will be situated between Taylor Creek and Turner’s Creek. (Image courtesy of Preston Development)

Shown here is a rendering of the entrance to Beaufort East Village. (Rendering by Historical Concepts and provided courtesy of Preston Development)

Beaufort East Village will feature a town center. (Rendering by Historical Concepts and provided courtesy of Preston Development)