New Bern approves critical water system upgrades for Bluewater Rise development
One of New Bern’s fastest-growing subdivisions will get a substantial water pressure upgrade to help meet emergency response needs in the area.
The New Bern Board of Aldermen has agreed to $875,000 in improvements to the city’s southeast water system to meet increased demand in the Old Airport Road, Waterscape Way and Wilcox Road corridor. The water system feeds into Bluewater Rise, one of the area’s newest large-scale housing developments.
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The New Bern Planning and Zoning Board recently approved Bluewater Rise’s phase two construction of more than 400 lots stretching over approximately 156 acres.
According to City Engineer Jordan Hughes, as demand increases the area’s water system will be unable to provide an adequate supply of water for domestic and fire-flow for first responders.
He explained that the corridor’s water system was constructed linearly, which has created two dead-ends that are not fed with any other part of the system, creating unfavorable conditions from both a hydraulic and water quality perspective.
“Unfortunately, the Bluewater Rise development and the extreme southeast portion of the system has developed much faster than the surrounding area,” Hughes said. “So what we’ve had is a large demand on a dead-end and because of that we’re at the bare minimum of fire flow in that area to meet the fire department’s needs.”
Hughes said the previous plan had been to wait for the other developments in the area, such as Taberna, Carolina Colours, Brice’s Crossing and Longleaf Pines to progress before looping the southeast water system in with the larger system. But that progress, he said, may be 10 to 20 years down the road.
“To improve the fire-flow capabilities for public safety we decided to go ahead and put this loop in. Also, it provides some benefit to the entire area in that it increases fire-flow for everything on that part of the system and fixes some water quality problems we were having with the dead-end line,” Hughes explained. “This will eliminate having to flush that line and it’s more economical in the long-term since that water will be retained in the system.”
The low bid on the water system improvement project, $795,942, came from Herring- Rivenbark, Inc. Aldermen approved a project fund of $875,000 to cover the estimated construction cost and provide a 10% contingency for any unforeseen issues that may arise.
A community on the rise
The water system project is just the latest sign of the growth at Bluewater Rise.
Located between New Bern and Havelock, homes in Bluewater Rise have a median list price of $332,000, but go as low as the $200,000 range and as high as the $400,000s.
More: Two new neighborhoods, 400 lots approved for New Bern's next residential development
The 500-acre development began in 2015 when A. Sydes Construction purchased the land off of Old Airport Road from Weyerhaeuser for $2.1 million.
The following year the board of aldermen approved rezoning the entire development area from A-5F agricultural forestry district to R-8 residential district. The change allows single-, two-, and multifamily dwellings with a minimum 8,000-square-foot lot for one unit and 4,000 square feet for each additional unit.
At the beginning of 2021, a fifth neighborhood, Monitor Cape, was approved for Bluewater Rise. The 46 acre development will add 120 lots measuring approximately 8,740 square feet each when complete. The first phase of development will include 52 lots.
Phase two work will also include Atlas Valley, a 209-lot development on 85 acres located to the north of County Line Road and west of Grouper Run
Olympic Harbour, a proposed 203-lot development on 71 acres, will be located just adjacent to Atlas Valley.
A total of 17,000 feet of new road construction is planned for the two sites, with the City of New Bern providing utilities.
Reporter Todd Wetherington can be reached by email at wwetherington@gannett.com. Please consider supporting local journalism by signing up for a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: New Bern approves critical water system upgrades for Bluewater Rise
