Westmoreland City Council on Monday adopted ordinances establishing developer policies for water and sewer system improvements and approved first reading of a capacity-fee ordinance that will be discussed further in an April work study.

The council passed Ordinance O0032025-1, the developer policy for water-system improvements, and Ordinance O0032025-2, the developer policy for sewer-system improvements, by unanimous roll calls. Council members voted 4-0 on both ordinances. Councilman Brown made the motion on the water policy; Vice Mayor Jones seconded. Councilman Brown made the motion on the sewer policy; Councilman Staples seconded.

The capacity-fee ordinance, O0032025-3, drew public comment and split council discussion before passing first reading. Freda Carter, a resident who signed up to speak during public comment, told council she opposed the proposed fee amounts and warned of consequences for local builders: “I’m here to express my opposition in the capacity fees… I’m just, opposed that dollar amount that you all are proposing, an additional $10,000 on the house.” Carter said large outside developers have deeper pockets than hometown contractors such as “Coats Construction,” “DAT Construction” and “the Bandy Boys,” and that the fee would disadvantage those local firms.

Councilman Brown framed the timing of the capacity-fee vote as a matter of keeping the developer policies and the fee schedule on the same implementation timeline. “The reason I make the motion the way I did was so that way we can move forward, carry this along with the developer’s policies… That way everything would stay on the same timeline,” Brown said. The council debated a motion to defer the capacity-fee ordinance to the April work study; that motion produced a split vote. Vice Mayor Jones later moved to approve the capacity-fee ordinance on first reading so it could be discussed at the April work study; that motion passed on a roll call. The council said the ordinance will return to the work study for further detail and timing before final adoption.

Staff member Bridal Griffin was identified by the mayor as the person who could provide additional technical explanation at a future work study. The council did not finalize fee levels at the meeting; proponents and opponents said more discussion is needed to balance system funding with the impact on local developers.

The actions mean the city now has adopted developer-policy framework language for how water and sewer system upgrades will be addressed with developers. The capacity-fee ordinance has advanced but will be refined at the scheduled April work study, where staff and councilors said they expect to review details and implementation timing.