On Wednesday, April 9th at 6pm Rockingham County will hold a public hearing on the budget and Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for the upcoming year. One of the projects in the CIP is of particular interest to Keezletown—a Route 11 North Sewer Extension, possibly right through Keezletown.
The CIP says, “this project would extend a County sewer main either south through the City or around the northeast edge of the City and connect to an existing County or sewer authority main.”
The county is trying to fix an engineering problem—they need to supply greater sewer capacity to the tech park on Route 11 North and the surrounding area. They are considering two routes, one of which would be right through Keezletown.
Many of you will remember from the Keezletown Community Planning Project, the first Objective was to “Encourage compatible land uses and conservation of agricultural, historic, and natural resources to protect the existing rural character of the Keezletown area and to promote the area’s unique heritage.” And the first Strategy to implement that objective was “Do not plan to extend water and sewer utilities, develop major infrastructure, or expand roads in the Keezletown area.” (Page 39 from Keezletown Community Planning Project: Summary Report, December 2023)
Capital Improvement Plan Public Hearing
Wednesday, April 9
6pm
Rockingham County Administration Building
20 E Gay Street, Harrisonburg
(directions)
Tell Supervisors no sewer line through Keeezletown!
Keezletown residents put a great deal of time and thought into their planning project to document and communicate the community’s vision for the future of Keezletown to county representatives. It’s time to remind the county that Keezletown does not want utilities through the area.
If the sewer line is built through Keezletown, there is nothing to keep current or future decision makers from allowing landowners to tap into this new infrastructure for housing or commercial development. And those are not the only kinds of development agreements that could come from right-of-way negotiations for the sewer project.
It’s time to speak up and let county officials know, again, that Keezletown does not want this. If you can’t make the public hearing this week, you can call or email supervisors ahead of their vote on the CIP at the April 23 meeting.