From billboards to sewers, fracking to zoning, water to taxes, Moore County department heads worked their way through a raft of questions posed by the Greater Seven Lakes Community Council [GSLCC] during a Thursday, August 15 meeting with the Moore County Board of Commissioners.

As GSLCC President Jack Stevens explained at the opening of the meeting, the group brings together the Presidents of the landowners associations serving Seven Lakes West, Seven Lakes North and South, and McLendon Hills, as well as the President of the Seven Lakes Business Guild. The purpose is "to identify concerns that are common to our communities and present them in a unified manner," Stevens said.

You'll find several articles below that report on individual topics covered in the joint session, including: water and sewer, zoning and billboards, tax revaluation, fire insurance districts, and fracking for shale gas.

Though steady Summer rains have erased any concerns about drought this year, ensuring an adequate supply of water is always a top concern in Seven Lakes, which is served by Moore County Public Utilities.

So, it was no surprise that the Greater Seven Lakes Community Council [GSLCC] had some questions about water -- and about sewer -- when they met with the Moore County Board of Commissioners on Thursday, August 15.

Public Works Director Randy Gould reviewed a $12 million project that will bring water to Seven Lakes from Harnett County's treatment plant on the Cape Fear River. Currently, almost all of Seven Lakes' water comes from wells in Pinehurst, traveling in a water main that parallels NC Highway 211.

That system can provide about one million gallons per day, Gould said, and the community's 6,365 residents require a maximum daily supply of 881,000 gallons. By 2030, the County expects 9,125 residents in Seven Lakes, and a maximum day demand for 1.22 million gallons of water.

The County currently purchases up to two million gallons per day [MGPD] from Harnett County at a cost of $2.40 per thousand gallons. A new initiative approved by the Commissioners will buy into an expansion of Harnett's water treatment plant at an upfront cost of $5.25 million, providing up to 3.0 MGPD at an ongoing cost of $1.92 per thousand gallons.

Booster pump upgrades, a new water main on NC Highway 73, and a new water tank near West End will bring Harnett County water to Seven Lakes. In addition, the County plans to drill three new wells near Foxfire that will increase the supply of water to Pinehurst.

Expressing concern that dilapidated buildings in West End will not put the best face on the Seven Lakes area when thousands of visitors arrive to attend the 2014 US Open Golf Tournaments, the Greater Seven Lakes Community Council [GSLCC] asked Moore County Board of Commissioners to "insist, through inspections, that West End businesses on 211, comply."

The Council also expressed concern about a perceived proliferation of billboards on NC Highway 211 and asked whether Village Business zoning could be stiffened by including architectural standards.

Compliance in West End

Taking up the question of compliance in West End, Planning Director Debra Ensminger asked, during the Thursday, August 15 meeting of the Council and Commissioners, "Comply to what?" The County's zoning ordinance does not include architectural standards for West End -- or for the Seven Lakes Business District.

Residents in attendance mentioned the old Stanley Furniture plant and the West End Theater as buildings in need of upgrade or demolition.

Ensminger explained that the County does have the power to condemn buildings, and it does not have money budgeted to pay for demolitions. While a lein could be placed on the property to cover that cost, Ensminger expressed doubt that the money would ever be collected.

Under NC General Statutes, Moore County property is due for a revaluation for tax purposes on January 1, 2015. The Greater Seven Lakes Community Council asked how foreclosures impact that process.

Basically, they don't, Appraisal Division Leader Gary Briggs explained during the August 15 joint meeting of the Council and the Commissioners.

Briggs explained that foreclosure sales are typically not good examples of an arm's length transaction, but often involve financial incentives or accommodations that impact the price. Briggs said he had pulled data on seventy Seven Lakes property sales and found only nine that appeared to be foreclosures.

"I tend to think the trend toward foreclosure sales has slowed down, " he added.

Briggs explained that NC law requires that properties be valued for tax purposes at one hundred percent of their market value. In order to arrive at that value, the Appraisal Division has already begun collecting data on "every component involved in the pricing of property," Briggs said.

"There are dramatic differences in land prices from one end of the County to another," Briggs said. So, the appraisal staff divides the County into more than 600 neighborhoods. He noted that there would be several neighborhoods identified within Seven Lakes West, for example.

"Once we get the neighborhoods established," Briggs said, "we look at the improvements: whether it is a single family home, what type of siding, whether it is stick built." Additional considerations include whether a home is on the lake or golf course, or is simply on an interior lot.

It fell to Moore County Fire Marshal Ken Skipper, during the Thursday, August 15 meeting of the Board of Commissioner and Great Seven Lakes Community Council, to explain what may have been the most confusing topic of the evening: a change in County fire insurance districts that did not include a change in response districts or fire tax districts.

Skipper said Moore County Public Safety noticed in 2011 that some insurance companies were placing homes in the wrong insurance districts when writing homeowners policies -- for example, assuming that homes in McLendon Hills were covered by Seven Lakes Volunteer Fire and Rescue instead of by Eagle Springs.

When Public Safety notified the companies of the error, some residents saw their rates increase -- and that produced complaints to both Public Safety and the Board of Commissioners.

The County's response was to commission a comprehensive study of the fire and EMS systems that may ultimately result in changes to the fire tax districts and the and fire and EMS response districts. But that process requires coordinated planning among the County's eighteen fire, EMS, and rescue agencies.

NC General Statutes allow the Board of Commissioners, within limits, to shift fire insurance district lines so that they are not exactly the same as response district or tax district lines.

In order to provide relief from high homeowners insurance rates to some landowners, the Board recently voted to change some lines. Skipper said the changes are projected to save homeowners as much as $300,000 in insurance premiums.