Peace Missionary Baptist Church has relied on septic tanks for 38 years at its grounds on Rowe Avenue in the Christobel neighborhood.
Pastor Anthony Webster has been hearing for as many years that someday the city would extend sewer service to Christobel.
When he learned the work was finally about to get started, he said his reaction was simply, “At last.”
“To revive the minds of people, you can only stretch it out so long or people lose faith in government,” he said. “So we are thankful.”
The anticipated completion date in late 2028 for installing JEA sewer service will finish the last of three septic phaseout neighborhoods the city announced back in 2016: Biltmore, Beverly Hills East and Christobel.
The combined cost of nearly $104 million for converting the three neighborhoods is focused in an area of northwest Jacksonville where septic tanks date back to the era before creation of Jacksonville’s consolidated city-county government in 1968.
A longstanding criticism of consolidation has been that older neighborhoods on septic tanks have been bypassed for the kind of investment that fueled Jacksonville’s growth in areas where utility service is in place from the start.
“When prayers go up, blessings come down, so today is really an opportunity for broken promises to come to fruition,” City Council member Ju’Coby Pittman said at a June 18 event that recognizes the U.S. Environmental Agency’s support for the project. “You know, today is a celebration for the residents.”
Mayor Donna Deegan said it’s also an investment in public health by reducing the risk of leaking septic tanks causing pollution in waterways that define Jacksonville from the St. Johns Riverway to creeks and marshes.
“These waterways are part of who we are,” she said. “Protecting them from pollution is a responsibility that we share as a community.”
Rep. Rutherford worked with EPA for septic phaseout grant
A partnership between the city and JEA is paying for the bulk of the cost for the septic tank phaseouts in the three neighborhoods. The city also won a $6 million state grant in 2021 and the federal government chipped in another $6.7 million for Christobel.
The federal money for Christobel came after U.S. Rep. John Rutherford, R-Jacksonville, and then-Rep. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, secured support by designating the money through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“This is really what Congress is designed to do — help out neighborhoods,” Rutherford said at the Christobel event.
Rutherford recalled his early years in law enforcement when his beat as a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office patrol officer included Christobel in the mid to late 1970s. He said coming back to the neighborhood to help residents move off septic tanks carries out public safety in another way.
“This is a big deal,” he said. “You heard those numbers — 310 failing septic tanks. Folks, that’s horrible. To be in our community, in a small community, to have 310 failing tanks is unacceptable.”
After JEA completes construction in Christobel, the utility’s sewer service will be available for 526 property parcels in a neighborhood where the odor of septic waste arises after heavy rains. Most of the new system will serve existing homes but it also will extend to undeveloped parcels where developers can construct new homes.
That will enable “smart, responsible growth” that strengthens the tax base, said Kevin McOmber, the Southeast regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“It sets Christobel up for long-term environmental, public health and economic resilience,” McOmber said. “Clean water is foundational to healthy communities and strong local economies.”
Riverview neighborhood on deck for JEA sewer expansion
The work in the Biltmore neighborhood cost $20.5 million, Belverly Hills East cost $46.7 million, and the estimated expense for Christobel is $36.4 million.
Next up is Riverview, another northwest Jacksonville that comes with an estimated $147 million price tag for extending JEA utility service to it.
“You could fit the first three projects into the size of Riverview,” said Greg Corcoran, director of community engagement and project outreach for JEA. “Riverview is something that we’re going to be working on for a very long time.”
He said it will likely take two to three years to complete design for Riverview, overlapping with construction in Cristobel. Then construction would begin in phases in Riverview.
Deegan said she will put funding in her proposed 2026-27 budget for septic tank phaseouts and the city will keep seeking grants such as the one from EPA.
“We will work on every possible funding source because as you know, it’s extremely expensive to make this happen,” Deegan said. “So we have to put the city money behind it, but we’ll also be looking for state and federal help along the way because we have a lot of these left to do.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: EPA chips in for Jacksonville’s latest round of septic tank phaseouts
Reporting by David Bauerlein, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By David Bauerlein, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union | USA TODAY Network
