this was not a Cabarrus issue—this is a statewide issue for every fast-growing county. As soon as we got this bill passed, suddenly Cabarrus could use that $50 million worth of brick-and-mortar capacity. Now multiply that by every fast-growing county, and all of a sudden, those houses can be built to house the workforce that’s coming because of the new job creators to the fast-growing counties. The next job creator can come and know they have wastewater capacity and can actually build and utilize a building. If you think about the economic value of that regulatory reform, I’m sure it’s in the billions of dollars for North Carolina. And the beauty of it is it didn’t cost anyone a penny. No appropriation, didn’t cost a dime. It’s just people coming together in good faith, looking at an old regulation and being willing to recognize it should no longer apply. Once we fix that, we’re rolling again and growing again in North Carolina. That’s a great example. It really ties in closely with the issues that arise at the League with the towns we serve. It’s often not the big flashy issues. Rather, it’s almost always related to water capacity and providing the foundation for new businesses and new homes. PN: That’s right. And as we speak right now, there is a group including DEQ meeting to look at water. Right now, the rules for intra-basin transfers are exactly the same as inter-basin transfers, even though they have very dramatically different potential environmental effects. And there’s a pretty uniform belief that intra-basin transfers should be able to be done more efficiently, quicker, more effectively, and at less cost than inter-basin transfers. And that’s what that group’s talking about right now. Now we’re trying to unlock water for local government units. Legislator Q&A: Senator Paul Newton SEN. PAUL NEWTON OF CABARRUS COUNTY SEES LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES AS FALLING INTO TWO BUCKETS: THE SHORT-TERM NEEDS THAT ARISE QUICKLY, AND THE LONG-TERM GOALS THAT HE MOVES TOWARDS SLOWLY AND INTENTIONALLY OVER MANY YEARS. AS THE SENATE MAJORITY LEADER, HE HANDLES BOTH. Sen. Newton sat down with NCLM in early September to discuss his approach to leadership, the 2023 legislative session, and his vision for the state of North Carolina. ˘˘˘ How’s the current session been? Has it matched expectations heading into the year? PN: It’s been good in the sense of accomplishing some things that are really good for North Carolinians. It’s been longer than we would’ve liked. We had hoped to be done sort of July timeframe. But one of the things you learn when you’re here is that sometimes waiting is the very best thing you can do to get the best deal for North Carolinians. There’s a pressure to get it done quickly, but I’ve seen in the past that the one who is willing to wait the longest sometimes gets the best deal. What are some of those things that you mention, that you’re most proud of? PN: Well, the first one that pops to mind is a bill that solves a problem for our fast-growing counties. We have local government units that are under de facto moratoriums for new growth, new business, new homes, because they’ve run out of wastewater capacity. And that’s not literally true. They have plenty of wastewater capacity in terms of their brick and mortar. But the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has had a process over the years where they have built multiple conservatisms into their calculations, and so they take away available capacity from just a bureaucratic perspective. This is the rule that was set back in the early 1980s. The rule is, if you’re going to build a new home, it’s going to be 120 gallons per bedroom per day. You have to take that away the very first day you get the permit even. And if it’s 500 homes, you got to take it all away day one from your brick-and-mortar wastewater capacity. It made no sense. So we got technical teams together, and went through a series of stakeholder engagements. DEQ was terrific. They were willing to basically acknowledge that with low-flow shower heads, low-flow toilets and what not, the wastewater calculation of 120 gallons per day is high. They agreed to reduce it to 75 gallons. Most engineers will tell you it’s probably closer to 45 gallons per bedroom per day, but we took the 75 as part of a compromise, and that unlocked tremendous value for local government units. For example, Cabarrus County alone had $50 million of brick and mortar unutilized because the paper capacity took away their ability to use it. We had a moratorium in Cabarrus. But SOUTHERN CITY Quarter 3 2023 14
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