The City of Hagerstown Mayor and Council entered into a Consent Judgement with the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) on January 12, 2005. The Consent Judgement has limited the amount of sewer allocation that the City of Hagerstown is permitted to issue each calendar year for new development at 120,000 gallons per day until the wastewater plant has been rehabilitated and upgraded or until other sewer system improvements have been satisfactorily completed according to MDE.
The Consent Judgement required the City of Hagerstown to develop and submit to MDE for approval a Capacity Allocation Plan prior to July 11, 2005, and said plan shall provide for management of existing and future sewer commitments, distribution of future flow allocations in relation to capacity, and a system to limit the issuance of building permits and approval of new subdivision plats so as not to exceed the annual threshold of 120,000 gallons per day. The Mayor and City Council adopted a Sewer Capacity Allocation Program for the City of Hagerstown's Waste Water Treatment Plant for the remainder of 2005 on August 9, 2005 and for the entirety of 2006 on December 20, 2005.
As per the SCAP, requests for allocation for new residential development in the City are reviewed and awarded periodically in a Master List process by the City Planning Office. Requests for allocation for non-residential development in the City are reviewed and awarded, first-come, first-served by the City's Wastewater Division. Details on these processes can be found in the current year's SCAP posted at the top of this page.
At least once in each calendar year, the Mayor and City Council shall review the Sewer Capacity Allocation Program and with MDE review and approval may revise the program as they deem necessary. Such changes may reduce allocations therefore projections of allocations for future years are not commitments by the City. Statements and representations from anyone requesting allocation beyond the current year's SCAP shall not be binding upon the City.
The Consent Judgement sets up a process by which the Maryland Department of the Environment may grant approval of residential units or non-residential projects which request an allocation of greater than 120,000 gpd. Developers may approach the City to pursue this process, however it must be demonstrated that the proposed connections will not adversely affect the operation of the sewer system or the plant or increase the frequency or severity of overflows, bypasses or effluent violations.
Per the Consolidated General Services Agreement, any award of allocation to Washington County in the Discretionary Reserve process may not result in a total allocation from the annual 120,000 gpd that would exceed 25%, unless otherwise approved by the Mayor and City Council.
