March 13th, 2007 4:12 PM

Carolina Water Service Inc. won't take no for answer.

Nearly a month after the Pender County Board of Commissioners denied the Charlotte-based company a special-use permit, Carolina Water filed a lawsuit against the county challenging the board members' Jan. 16 decision.

Carolina Water was requesting two special-use permits to expand water storage and sewer capacity at its Belvedere Plantation wastewater treatment plant off Fairway Drive in Hampstead. The company wanted to increase the plant's sewage treatment capacity from 110,000 gallons per day to 216,000 gallons.

After hearing from Carolina Water and concerned residents from the Belvedere Property Owners Association, the commissioners unanimously denied the company both permits, saying the expansion would adversely affect the homeowners' quality of life.

The lawsuit, filed in Pender County Superior Court on Feb. 15, alleged the commissioners based their decision to deny the company its permits on no "actual or substantial evidence that the proposed construction would adversely affect the safety, health morals, or welfare of the surrounding community."

Carolina Water is asking a judge to overturn the commissioners' decision or re-examine the decision, said Christopher J. Ayers, an attorney with Hunton & Williams law firm in Raleigh.

Many of the neighborhood's residents do not want the plant in the community. They say the smell and flooding caused by the plant's existing capacity affects their quality of life.

The board's decision ended a three-year dispute between Carolina Water and the Belvedere Property Owners Association, which had been at odds with the company because it had gradually increased its sewage capacity.

Trey Thurman, Pender County's attorney, said a judge will review tapes of the county's public hearing to determine if the commissioners' decision was merited. Thurman said he isn't sure when that review will take place.

George Mara, president of the Belvedere Property Owners Association, said the commissioners' decision would not end Carolina Water's pursuit for more sewer capacity.

"I'm not surprised they came back with a lawsuit, but I thought they would come back with an appeal," he said. "I'm not concerned with it because we have the law on our side."

Tyra M. Vaughn: 343-2070
tyra.vaughn@starnewsonline.com

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