City of Wildwood to slow down new development approvals due to wastewater concerns
Posted on: May 22, 2024
Original Article: https://www.wesh.com/article/city-of-wildwood-wastewate/60874769
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WILDWOOD, Fla. — Several new projects are in the works in Wildwood to keep up with the population growth.
However, the city will now slow things down because there is not much room left for wastewater.
A commercial building is coming soon to downtown Wildwood, and a new parking garage will be just a couple of feet away from the planned project.
The county economic development director Kristy Russell said rental units, homes and expanding The Villages are all part of the growth.
"Sumter County is the 12th fastest growing county in the United States," Russell said.
The new developments come as more people move to the city of Wildwood.
The population has doubled in the last four years.
"[There is] definitely a need for hospitality industry, medical care facilities," Russell said.
Wildwood City Manager Jason McHugh said if they don't move carefully, the growth may become too much for the city to handle.
"We're reaching a time where we're getting a little bit close to comfort with our wastewater capacity," McHugh said. "We're a very growing city, so we were once a rural city, but I don't think that we could really say that we are anymore."
The city will not approve new developments if they exceed the wastewater capacity.
The reduction will not affect projects that the city has already approved.
"We have a responsibility to the public to make sure that we're staying on top of these demands for public facilities and services, and wastewater is very important," McHugh said. "There's environmental considerations if you exceed your capacity. And we certainly don't want to get into that."
The city is working on a wastewater project that will create more space for future developments. When it's finished by early 2027, it will bring the city's total treatment capacity to 5.5 million gallons per day.
"It's not a moratorium by any means, it's simply just making sure that when we're reviewing comprehensive plan amendment applications that we've done our job to the public to ensure that what we sign up for we can adequately serve," McHugh said.