Board agrees to contract water service
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DONALDSONVILLE — The Ascension Parish School Board voted to proceed with an agreement with Ascension Water Co. to provide water services for the future Orange Grove Primary School site near Sorrento.
The vote at Tuesday night’s meeting all but ensures that the board would build the school — the last of five primary schools paid for by funds from a tax passed by parish voters in 2005 — on land donated by the developer of a proposed subdivision along La. 22.
It also means the water main lines will be laid regardless of whether Sorrento town government moves forward with plans to annex the land where the development is being built.
“Basically, you don’t have any alternative, if you want the school at that site” board attorney Jeff Diez told members during a committee meeting before the regular meeting.
Under a land-donation agreement signed in August, Renaissance Development Group LLC, the developer of the proposed 135-acre Orange Grove subdivision, said it will pay Baton Rouge Water Co. to do the work, which must start by May 30.
However, Renaissance chief financial officer Tony Bull notified system officials last month that it plans instead to work with Sorrento to provide water to the development.
While the town intends to provide water services to the area upon annexation, Board Attorney Jeff Diez said he was concerned that the town did not have a complete plan for the project.
Diez said previously that the School Board could legally give the water company notice to proceed to lay water lines for the school site, but would then bear the $450,000 cost. The board could then collect the funds from Renaissance plus a $100,000 penalty from the developer after the school opens.
The school would be situated on a campus among 349 single-family residences in the planned subdivision.
Board members had been looking at other possible locations for the school, but few options existed.
Chad Lynch, director of planning and development for the district, said the $450,000 would cover the installation of water main lines from Lee Street to La. 22. The contractor on the project will handle water meters and installation fees.
Lynch added that the alternative — drilling water wells on the site for Orange Grove — would cost more than $450,000 and would also make the school district responsible for the water quality.
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