MORGANTOWN — Sewer rates for some 3,400 Cheat Lake customers of the Morgantown Utility Board will double starting Nov. 29.
Earlier this week, Morgantown City Council finalized a 100% rate increase tied to the expansion of MUB’s Cheat Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The project, which will increase the plant’s capacity from 750,000 gallons to 1.75 million gallons per day, is currently estimated at $39,695,529. The actual cost won’t be known until bids are opened on Tuesday.
Once in place, rates for Cheat Lake customers would jump from $35.59 to $71.18 monthly for every 3,400 gallons, which is the average usage calculated by the state when measuring rate changes. The minimum monthly charge of $21.70 will double, to $43.40.
The existing treatment facility is exceeding 90% of its designed capacity.
In 2014, the last time MUB increased rates in the area, the facility served 2,426 customers. As of 2023 there were 3,349 Cheat Lake customers. The average annual growth in the area is just over 3.5%.
In other city news, council approved on second reading the conveyance of lower Marilla Park to the Morgantown Building Commission in exchange for the issuance of up to $11 million in lease revenue bonds for a forthcoming park project.
The city, through BOPARC, will then lease the property back from the commission as the mechanism through which the debt service on the bonds is paid.
This is the same process used to finance numerous city capital improvement projects, including the renovation of city hall and the ongoing construction of the new Marilla Pool complex.
The anticipated price of the work is $9.4 million.
“That gives us a lot of head room beyond the estimated cost of the project in case something unanticipated happens,” project bond counsel Tom Aman said.
The project will be put out to bid in early 2025, with construction expected to follow next spring.
The redesigned lower park will include a new action sports/skate park in the current footprint of the soon-to-be demolished old Marilla Pool. The park’s new tennis courts will move to the end of the property to fill space currently occupied by the state park and the footprint of the old shirt factory building.
Improvements will also include pickleball courts, covered and open bleachers for both the tennis and pickleball courts, a new basketball court, a recreational field, trail head for the Marilla Connector Trail, revamped parking areas to serve each “zone,” and renovations to the Marilla Center.
