Dry no more . . . The Vineyards subdivision finally gets water

The Vineyards subdivision in Anderson is dry no more.

"We have achieved fire flows of 1,000 gallons per minute at 20 psi (pounds per square inch) which is what the (Anderson Fire Protection District) had required for fire safety," Public Works Director Jeff Kiser announced shortly after a hydrant test on the brown hills crowning the proposed subdivision.

"We are pumping chlorine into the water system as we speak, and once we have cleaned out the residual water from the construction wells that previously had supplied the area, we will begin flushing the entire system so that we can deliver potable water to every lot," Kiser said Wednesday, Oct. 21.

Work has once again resumed on 10 model homes being built on the first phase of what is envisioned as a 2,442-acre, 5,500 home development on the hills just south of Anderson, as evidenced by nearly a half-dozen subcontractors' crews busy plastering, painting, roofing and reglazing the homes.

Construction had been halted since late in 2007 when Sandy Sanderson, then the primary developer, quietly informed city officials that due to the downturn in sales and the tightening credit market, he would be unable to sell enough lots to complete the nearly $3 million infrastructure work necessary to tie the subdivision into the city's existing water system.

The construction wells that Sanderson had dug supplied enough water in the pipes to allow minimal landscaping and meet builder's needs while on the site, but could never have supplied enough water in case of a fire at one of the residences, let alone a wild-land fire threatening several structures at once, city officials quickly discovered.

Not only that, but Sanderson's company, Sanderson Communities, could no longer afford to pay the security guards to patrol the area and prevent vandals from pitching rocks through windows of the half-completed houses.

Former City Manager Scott Morgan and now-deceased developer Robert "Buz" Loring. who owned the Three Seasons Development company building Pleasant Hills subdivision nearby, finally cobbled together a $1 million compromise that would allow Sanderson's eventual successor, Roger White, and land owner Henry Willms to enter into a three-way agreement with Loring and the city to contribute equally to a booster pump station capable of supplying the existing portions of both subdivisions.

Willms pulled out of the agreement in September 2008, withdrawing his $316,395 share of cash funding needed to complete the project. Willms also claimed that Sanderson had borrowed $18 million in Willms' name and left Willms and his sisters holding the debt on an unfinished project.

Work on the 10 model homes remained at a standstill through 2008 and lawsuits soon erupted, leaving a trail of ill will and distrust on virtually every side of the multi-part agreement.

Eventually, however, a new agreement was negotiated, work on the Southwest Pumping Station next to the Anderson Heights Reservoir started this summer and, just this week, the final piece - an emergency diesel-powered generator - arrived and was installed at the pumping station for uninterrupted operation in case of an electrical system outage.

"This all had to be done in order for anyone to be able to sell those homes. State building codes require that you have to have dual systems in place for supplying water that meets all of the E.P.A. (Environmental Protection Agency) requirements," Kiser said.

Anticipating completion of the pumping station, Anderson's City Council on Tuesday, Oct. 20, unanimously voted to reinstate a landscaping and lighting district in The Vineyards to make the undeveloped portions of the subdivision more attractive to prospective buyers.

"I couldn't do any of that until I had the water," said Kiser, whose department will oversee a $52,624.03 contract with Custom Creations, Inc., of Redding to complete the original landscaping plans for the subdivision's entryway and main round-about.