Marion County utilities staff presented a five‑year capital improvement plan (CIP) at a Board of County Commissioners workshop, highlighting an expansion of the Oak Run facility (referred to in the plan as the Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant), water main extensions that added service to roughly 1,300 residents this year, and a suite of other programs aimed at system reliability and regulatory compliance.

Tony Cunningham, Marion County utilities director, told commissioners the CIP is a “living document” meant to prioritize reliability, regulatory obligations and planned growth while balancing costs. “One of the drivers for our capital improvement plan is as our plants start to meet capacity, we need to build those additions to those plants,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham said the county is planning to expand the Oak Run/Southwest plant as part of a multi‑year program that would grow the plant’s capacity from about 1.6 million gallons per day (MGD) to 3.5 MGD. He said near‑term actions include noise and odor mitigations, screening around the plant and dewatering areas, and design work for the longer‑term expansion. “We’ve put a tremendous amount of focus in that area and identified things that we could do immediately and then things that will guide the design process as we do the expansion of the plant,” Cunningham said.

Why this matters: county staff said the expansion is driven by plant utilization and regulatory triggers. When facilities approach roughly 70% of permitted capacity, utilities typically begin capacity analysis; by 80% they generally submit expansion plans to the state, Cunningham said. The county also emphasized the need to keep systems resilient for everyday service and emergency uses such as firefighting.

Key project and funding notes

- ARPA and other grants have driven a number of projects. Cunningham said Marion County received an appropriation of $3.5 million toward a Lowell water main extension to serve a prison, a fire college and a school; staff are pursuing additional funds and a forgivable loan for design work.

- Silver Spring Shores: staff said phases 1 and 2 of a septic‑to‑sewer conversion are funded and underway. The county reported about 5.25 miles of septic‑to‑sewer conversions completed recently and between 300 and 500 residents made eligible to connect; phases 3 and 4 remain contingent on outside funding.

- Marion Oaks and other water main extensions: staff reported nearly 23 miles of new water main installed in the past year and water service made available to roughly 1,300 additional residents.

- Metering program: the CIP includes continuing replacement of aging water meters and targeted smart metering where feasible to improve measurement and leak detection.

Capacity, reclaimed water and reuse

Cunningham described tests on a Lower Floridan aquifer well in the county’s southeast and said staff are evaluating water quality and treatment needs before deciding whether to build a treatment plant around that source. “It depends on the water quality,” he said. If quality is good, staff said a Lower Floridan source could reduce impacts on surface water and extend permitted supply; if treatment requirements are high, costs rise.

On reuse, Cunningham said the county uses reclaimed water for irrigation (notably golf courses), rapid infiltration basins (RIBs) and spray fields. He said RIBs and properly sited reuse can help replenish the Upper Floridan aquifer and that disposal and beneficial reuse are central to long‑term water planning.

Community concerns and near‑term mitigation at Oak Run/Southwest

Cunningham said staff meet regularly with a local group called Seniors Working Together and plan an afternoon meeting with the group to review screening and other neighborhood mitigations. He listed the main nuisances residents raised as odor, noise and visual impacts and said staff have already installed noise‑absorbing blankets, adjusted operations, optimized odor control media and increased collection‑system cleaning.

He said short‑term, relatively low‑cost measures (screening, targeted odor controls and equipment adjustments) are expected within months; longer‑term solutions tied to plant expansion will be designed and scheduled over several years. Commissioners and staff also discussed acquiring adjacent parcels as buffer zones; Cunningham said appraisals have been requested on nearby parcels.

Budget and rates

Cunningham said the county completed a preliminary rate sufficiency analysis with consultant Stantec and that, for the coming fiscal year, no rate increase is required to fund the proposed operations, maintenance and CIP for fiscal 2026. He cautioned, however, that future years may require adjustments depending on project costs and revenues.

What’s next

Staff were directed to provide more detailed monthly flow data for plants with seasonal populations and to continue community outreach at Oak Run/Southwest. Commissioners emphasized moving plant components away from adjacent homes where possible, advancing screening and landscaping plans, and pursuing grants to limit rate impacts.

Commissioner comments praised staff responsiveness and the breadth of recent work. “We’ve been able to make water available to over 1,300 additional residents this year, and extended almost 23 miles worth of water mains,” Cunningham said, summarizing the recent accomplishments. The CIP document and backup materials are available to commissioners for follow‑up questions.