KANNAPOLIS — Kannapolis agreed in 2021 to an ordinance for a wastewater allocation policy that not only designates services proportionally with the city’s “growth-related priorities,” but also to be equitable amongst “public and private interests.”

During Monday’s meeting, the city council voted to update “Exhibit A” of that policy, which is the detailed, technical breakdown of all projects.

This is the first edit to “Exhibit A” since February 2022. Its goal is to determine how Kannapolis will allocate its wastewater capacity for specific projects.

“Exhibit A” acts as a “spreadsheet” that tracks the city’s projects, according to Planning Director Richard Smith. Many developments have broken ground in Kannapolis in the two years since the policy was enacted. When the developers turn in applications for allocation permits, they incorporate a “scoring matrix” so that the project can be impartially measured “based on overall community benefit and approving the limited number of wastewater allocation permits.”

Staff was asked to focus on “non-residential projects” proceeding with allocation due to the amount of pending residential properties units that already qualify for it. They were also requested to separate the non-residential and residential projects and to have a different scoring system for both classifications.

The main changes to “Exhibit A” were that the gallons per day per bedroom have been dropped from a capacity of 80 to 75 to coincide with modifications from the state legislators, the city will allow allocation for smaller non-residential and residential projects, and there have been allocation adjustments for the North Carolina Research Campus. Even though non-residential and residential have their own designations, Smith says that they can now “compete” against each other for the finite number of allocation permits.

By approving “Exhibit A,” Kannapolis can administer wastewater capacity for future developments based on if the developer has had previous “city commitments,” “approved projects” with the city, and if their current project matches with any of the city’s economic objectives.