Lowell Moratorium Limits But Doesn?t Stop Building

by Talk Business & Politics ([email protected]) 68 views 

The Lowell City Council of established a moratorium on new construction in July of 2002. The suspension allows construction but requires potential builders to:

• Comply with more strict landscaping and design criteria as part of the new overlay district.

• Comply with the comprehensive city ordinance plan, which is still in the approval process.

• Show how their construction will impact sewer capacity.

“There are only 70 or 80 [sewer] taps left through the city of Springdale,” said Phil Swope, Lowell’s city engineer. Springdale provides most of Lowell’s sewer capacity.

He said there is an ongoing discussion with Springdale officials about expansion of more sewer taps and there are other possibilities, such as a step system, for residents and businesses that can’t obtain one of the taps from Springdale.

The moratorium is a way of enforcing compliance with yet-to-be finalized city ordinances, Swope said. Once the ordinances are finalized there will be no need for the moratorium, he said.