School board OKs sewer easement signaling next phase of subdivision expansion

FRONT ROYAL — The Warren County School Board on Sept. 4 unanimously gave approval for the chairman to sign a Deed of Easement for Sanitary Sewer Utilities that will be constructed on school property.

The transfer of the property from the School Board to the Town of Front Royal is just one more step the contractor needed to move forward on the next construction phase at the Happy Creek Knolls subdivision.

“The school system does not have plans for this part of the property,” Melody Sheppard, assistant superintendent for administration at Warren County Public Schools (WCPS), told School Board members during their regular meeting on Wednesday night.

The Front Royal Town Council during its Aug. 12 meeting approved the sanitary sewer easement that was requested by Chris Ramsey, President of the Front Royal-based Ramsey Inc., who owns and is spearheading the subdivision’s expansion. The 60-by-20-feet sewer easement being dedicated for one dollar by the School Board to the Town is located at the edge of property that houses Hilda J. Barbour Elementary School and Warren County High School.

Ramsey’s sanitary sewer line will go from Happy Ridge Drive down to an existing sewer line next to Leach Run, near the two schools. The area is a FEMA-designated flood plain, Sheppard said.

Phase four development in the Happy Creek Knolls subdivision will locate 33 homes behind the backyards of houses along Picket Court (left) and along an extended Ewell Street. Photo by Kim Riley

Now that the Town and the School Board have approved the sewer easement, Ramsey told the Royal Examiner that before the sewer line installation job begins, another easement must be approved by HEPTAD LLC, owners of the property between the subdivisions of Happy Creek Knolls and Williamsburg Estates. The sewer line also will cross the HEPTAD LLC property on its way to hook into the existing sewer line near Leach Run.

Once HEPTAD LLC approves its easement, the Town Council also must approve it, said Ramsey.

“Then construction will begin immediately on the sanitary sewer line,” Ramsey said, “which will take about two weeks to complete.”

He explained that the sewer line will service 33 single-family, detached residences, which will be built on a total of just over 12.4 acres. The homes comprise section four of the Happy Creek Knolls subdivision.

Facing southeast at the end of Happy Ridge Drive where the next development phase of the Happy Creek Knolls subdivision will take place. Happy Ridge Drive will eventually connect with Ewell Street, according to the project’s plans. Photo by Kim Riley

At the end of Happy Ridge Drive, facing right, the new sanitary sewer easement will be built next to Leach Run, which is down this hill, across Swan Road, and near two schools. Photo by Kim Riley

The subdivision project will include construction of the extensions of Ewell Street and Happy Ridge Drive — which will be connected to one another — as well as lighting, hydrants, curbs and gutters, utility lines, sidewalks and landscaping, and a pump station and stormwater pond, according to the staff report for the May 15 Town of Front Royal Planning Commission meeting.

The project’s final plan for building the 33 homes is expected to be approved at the Front Royal Planning Commission’s meeting this month, added Ramsey, and then it will head to the Town Council for action. If approved, construction of the homes will start right away, Ramsey said.

“We’ll be working on them through the winter for delivery in the spring” of 2020, Ramsey said of the new residences.