The station has to be replaced as part of a 2011 agreement with Lexington and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to fix problems with the city’s sewer systems and stormwater treatment plants. It currently sits on land owned by Fayette County Public Schools.
Last year, owners of Mill Ridge Farm came to council members with a proposal to build a replacement pump on their property, outside Lexington’s current urban service boundary. They say moving the station downstream would help mitigate sewage overflows, and could help preserve 25 acres of wetlands.
“This is a chance to solve a problem correctly, not just adequately, to remediate a decade of sewage overflows, restore a wetland, lower the cost of housing and build infrastructure design for where Lexington is going, not just where it has been,” farm owner Price Bell said…