In St. Mary’s County, a phone call to MetCom confirming there is sewer capacity near a lot does not mean anyone can build a house there. That surprises people, a county commissioner said, and it once cost the commissioner money.
“It’s often said that MetCom determines if the capacity is there. But the county is the one that issues the EDU,” the commissioner said during the board’s Sept. 15 work session on the draft St. Mary’s 2050 Comprehensive Plan. “So there’s a little bit of confusion there.”
An EDU, or equivalent dwelling unit, is the unit of sewer capacity assigned to a property. The Chronicle’s earlier look at the 2050 plan’s gaps noted that the county has never analyzed whether the sewer system can carry the growth the plan allows. This story looks at the smaller, more personal version of that problem: what happens when one buyer wants to hook up one house.
Two agencies, two answers
The St. Mary’s County Metropolitan Commission, known as MetCom, runs the public water and sewer systems. But the county’s Department of Land Use and Growth Management, known as LUGM, controls whether a particular lot gets a sewer allocation under the county’s water and sewerage plan.
The commissioner described how that plays out. A property owner with a house lot in Piney Point asks MetCom whether there is capacity. “Yeah, there’s capacity,” comes the answer, “but you got to go to LUGM.” Then LUGM turns the request down under the county’s policy for that area, the commissioner said.
The commissioner said it has happened more than once, including personally. The commissioner bought lots knowing they had no EDU capacity, but the state’s tax assessors raised one lot’s value to about $150,000, the commissioner said, because MetCom said capacity existed. It took paperwork from the health department and LUGM to fix it.
“That’s something that needs to be understood by the public, that if they want to build a home on a lot they own or they’re buying a lot, that it does not have the capacity or does not have the sewer,” the commissioner said.
County staff agreed the process needs explaining. Staff said they would work with the county’s permits, development services and long-range planning divisions on “an FAQ,” a one-page document “that explains how the two agencies work together in order for somebody to get that type of approval.” No date was given.
A market for unused EDUs
At the same session, a commissioner asked that the 2050 plan reference the county’s sewer EDU transfer program, calling it “another tool that should be referenced” alongside the transfer of development rights. Commissioners agreed by consensus, and staff said the change would likely go in the plan’s chapter on public facilities, as the Chronicle reported at the time.
The program lets an owner sell sewer EDUs that are allocated to a property but not connected, according to the county’s standard operating procedure for the Sewer EDU Transfer Program. Among the rules:
- Transfers must stay within the same wastewater treatment plant service area, and the buying property must be in the right sewer service category.
- The seller posts a notice of intent with the price per EDU, and the county publishes it for 30 days. Property owners with failing septic systems get the first chance to buy during that window.
- The buyer must show a real need, such as a site plan and a permit application, or a health department finding that a septic system is failing.
- EDUs can’t be split, and the selling property has to keep enough for its own existing or planned use.
- The county can deny any transfer that would compromise the sewer system’s capacity.
LUGM approves each transfer, records it in the land records and sends an allocation letter to MetCom, which then adjusts billing.
Septic, and whose lane it is
For lots that will never see a sewer line, a commissioner asked that the plan add an action supporting newer septic technologies, saying other states allow systems that Maryland restricts. Another commissioner cautioned that the county doesn’t control that either. On-site systems are the health department’s lane, and sewer capacity is MetCom’s, which has its own board. The county can offer input, the commissioner said, “but we cannot tell them what to do.”
Staff said both agencies served on the technical committee that reviewed the draft plan and will weigh in on any new action items.
Before you buy
Based on what commissioners and staff described, a buyer counting on public sewer should ask two questions, not one: whether MetCom has capacity in the area, and whether LUGM will allocate an EDU to that specific lot. The county’s main number is 301-475-4200.
Written comments on the draft 2050 plan are due by 5 p.m. today, Tuesday, Oct. 13, and commissioners are scheduled to decide on the plan Oct. 20.
