Impact of the January 8th & 9th 2024 Storm
The January storm produced five inches of rain in Etowah and caused considerable flooding. Members of the steering team assembled a video of the flooding on the golf course. This video can be viewed at:
This video illustrates water flows from the north course, from the east side of Holly Springs Road, the west course, and from both sides of the south course. Water was within Gash Creek banks leaving the north course but was overtopping its banks on the south course.
The impact of this storm can be seen in the National Weather Service hydrograph for the gauge on the French Broad River in Blantyre. As Etowah is built up and flood plains are filled, the river flooding will become much more severe because of the natural loss of flood plains to slow the water flow.

A reanalysis of the recent rainfall records shows that five-inch rainfalls are more common than previously thought. If high-density housing were to be built on all three courses, the impact on the south course will be much greater because homes and asphalt roads will almost eliminate open areas that currently absorb water. As the video shows, flooding on the south course could end up flooding the backyards of homes on the west side of the course.
The Lions Club Forum with County Commissioner Candidates
The Etowah Lions Club hosted a Forum on January 23rd for the County Commissioner Candidates. Each candidate introduced themselves and explained why they are running for this important office. They were then asked a series of questions, which had been provided to them in advance of the Forum.
Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP)
We learned this past week that the North Carolina Utilities Commission has approved the sale of the Etowah WWTP to Red Bird with several conditions. All documents related to this sale can be found here. We also learned that Redbird has withdrawn its request to purchase the Cummings Cove WWTP. All documents, including the Notice of Withdrawal of Application, concerning the Cummings Cove sale can be found here.
Some relevant information out of the 60 page PDF related to the approval of the sale is highlighted below. (To review the entire document please click on this link.)
Concerning the Etowah WWTP, the Utilities Commission found:
“13. If the acquisition adjustment requested by Red Bird were to be included in rate base, the estimated impact to the revenue requirement would be $129,356, which on its own, would result in a $22.23 or 84% increase in residential monthly wastewater flat rates and commercial metered monthly base charge, zero usage rates.
14. An acquisition adjustment is not appropriate under the circumstances and evidence presented in the present docket and should not be approved for ratemaking purposes.
15. Etowah is providing safe and reliable service to its customers of the Etowah wastewater system. The provision of continuous, safe, adequate, and reliable wastewater utility service is essential to Etowah’s customers.
16. The Etowah system is not a troubled system as Red Bird contends. “
In addition:
“…the Commission finds it appropriate in this case to allocate $10,000 of these costs to rate base to be amortized over 27.74 years. Allocation of all of these costs to ratepayers would not be equitable and it would also render this transaction as not being in the public interest. Beyond the $10,000 allowed in this case, Red Bird may not recover any additional due diligence, regulatory, and transactional costs associated with this transfer proceeding.”
And
“Public Staff witness Franklin recommended that Red Bird post a $200,000 bond based on Red Bird’s lack of history of operations and management in North Carolina, the large customer base, the system improvements planned by Red Bird, and the size of the WWTP and wastewater collection system."
Lawsuit to Preserve the Etowah Golf Course
The EVPS steering group is working with our attorney in Raleigh to assemble all the records of our suit. On Friday, we obtained a complete file from the Court Clerk’s office. The attorney is also communicating with our Asheville attorney.
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