Baker County granted its first utility franchise to Avery Roberts’ Woodstock Utilities, which will provide water and sewer services to roughly 10,000 acres near Sanderson.
Woodstock Utilities was formed by Mr. Roberts as a way to lay infrastructure to support his industrial development projects in the area.
However, the utility could later be expanded and connected to the system proposed by Cedar Creek’s developers, all of which could one day become a county-wide water and sewer system.
County commissioners approved the Woodstock franchise and its proposed rate structure during their regular meeting May 6.
Mr. Roberts’ initial capital investment for the utility is about $11 million through the first three years — which includes water and wastewater treatment plants in Olustee and Sanderson — plus another $ 1 million in operations and maintenance costs.
GAI Consultants has been hired by Woodstock to engineer, design and build the utility facilities in three phases through 2022. Most of the infrastructure, including the treatment plants, will be placed underground.
The Woodstock Utilities service area covers about 17 square miles, separated in three sections north, west and southeast of Sanderson — all of which are owned by Mr. Roberts’ company, Roberts Land & Timber Investment Corp.
The service area to the north includes property north of CR 124 between CRs 229 and 127, and is bordered by the Osceala National Forest on the north and west. The western service area includes lands south of Herrod Dopson Road, west of CR 229. north of US 90 and east of the national forest. And the southeast service area encompasses property south of I-10, west of Bill Davis Road, north of Mud Lake Road and east of CR 229.
Base utility rates are $10 per month for water and $14.80 for wastewater, which are added to consumption charges that vary depending on how much water and wastewater a customer uses each month. Water is sold at a rate of $3 per 1000 gallons, and wastewater at $4.21 for 1000 gallons.
The system’s first users will likely be commercial and industrial customers.
“There’s one small residential project (Mr. Roberts) owns, but it’s the only residential out there,” said County Manager Joe Cone.
Once operational, the utility is designed to pave the way for development in western Baker County.
“Development that occurs there and in the surrounding area will have water and sewer instead of septic tanks,” said Mr. Cone. “We’ll end up with higher quality development, which will translate into higher tax revenue for the county.”
That tax revenue is in addition to the county’s franchise fee, which amounts to 4.5 percent of the utilities’ gross profits every year.
The Woodstock Utilities project will also need approvals from various state agencies going forward, including the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), Department of Community Affairs and the St. Johns River Water Management District.
The commission this week also approved a deal with Ed Fraser Memorial Hospital for the facility to house a new county ambulance and the four emergency medical services (EMS) personnel manning the truck.
The new ambulance will operate from the hospital on 12-hour shifts to supplement the county’s other EMS trucks during peak call times or when another unit is out of service.
Although the county has yet to fill the four EMS positions, a $98,000 budget amendment was also approved to support those personnel once they’re hired.
“We think this will pay for itself,” said Mr. Cone said of the new truck. “Maybe even make a little money.”
Commissioner Gordon Crews, who is a supervising nurse in the hospital’s emergency room, said the new ambulance would greatly benefit the health and safety of local residents.
“Time is everything with emergency patients,” he said, adding that it takes a helicopter, under the best of circumstances, at least 40 minutes to get a patient from Baker County to Jacksonville for more urgent care.
“This truck could be loaded and in Jacksonville quicker than a helicopter,” said Mr. Crews.
In other business, commissioners approved:
• A $3825 bid from Higginbotham Brothers to replace the air conditioning unit at in the county administration building.
• A preliminary design for St. Mary’s Shoals Park.
• A $312,230 bid from APAC for paving of Claude Harvey Road.
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