Pent-up development demand in the northeastern Randolph County town of Liberty has gotten some relief: The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality has given approval for the town to add sewer lines.
The town and DEQ entered a special order of consent in January 2021 preventing Liberty from adding sewer extensions until it repaired its wastewater treatment system. The system had had several overflow events mainly from stormwater runoff leaking into it after severe storms, particularly after major hurricanes.
Without additional sewer service, significantly sized residential and commercial projects could not proceed.
It’s been a development hold-up for the municipality closest to the massive plant Toyota is building to make batteries for its growing lines of hybrid and all-electric vehicles. The automaker plans a nearly $14 billion investment in its new plant about seven miles northwest of Liberty, where it eventually employ 5,100 in North Carolina’s largest ever industrial project. It is getting its water and sewer service from an extension from the city of Greensboro, part of the infrastructure improvements that turned the property into a megasite drawing major industrial attention until the plant was announced in December 2021.
And some 10 miles east, Durham-based semiconductor company Wolfspeed is building a $5 billion factory to employ 1,800. It’s adding up: A growth plan Randolph County adopted last fall for its northeast corner predicts the area will grow in population by 13% through 2040.
Liberty, however, has begun shoring up the system to DEQ’s satisfaction.
Triad Business Journal
