More development will soon be allowed in Sedro-Woolley.

Growth in the city has been at a stand still for four years, but potential discussions at next Wednesday's Council meeting could change that.

The Council is scheduled to discuss and possibly take action on an ordinance to lift the remainder of the four-year sewer moratorium.

The moratorium would end Aug. 31 if Council members vote to lift the ban. Building applications for the areas formerly affected by the ban could be accepted Sept. 1 by the city’s planning department.

The Sedro-Woolley City Council enacted the sewer moratorium in 2004. The purpose was to prevent connecting additional sewer lines to the city’s antiquated sewer system that was already operating at capacity.

The moratorium has prohibited areas designated in the northeastern and northwestern areas of the city from being developed. Areas of the moratorium have been lifted as the city has made repairs to its sewer system.

The city currently has three sewer projects underway, city officials said. Two of the projects are scheduled to be finished before the end of the year with the final project scheduled to be completed in January 2009.

The moratorium in northwestern Sedro-Woolley is impacted by the Metcalf Street Sewer Improvement Project, said Mark Freiberger, city engineer and director of public works.

Freiberger said the moratorium in the northeastern part of the city is affected by the Highway 9/Township Trenchless Sanitary Sewer Improvement Project and the McGarigle CIPP Sewer Project.

The Metcalf and Highway 9/Township projects are replacing the antiquated sewer line and increasing sewer capacity. The project on McGarigle Road is lining the existing pipe.

If the moratorium is lifted, the city will accept building applications for areas previously under the moratorium, but it could take about 90 to 100 days to begin construction depending on the size of the project, Freiberger said.

“Any kind of activity that would impact these (sewer) systems will come (to the planning department) as an application at this point, but couldn’t be built until early next year,” he said. “Our new sewer improvements will be completed by then.”

When the sewer projects are finished, it is estimated the city will have spent approximately $13.5 million on the collection system projects, said Patsy Nelson, city clerk-treasurer. Sedro-Woolley has paid for those projects with a 20-year public works trust fund loan with an interest of .5 percent.

The city will pay off the loan using a combination of city sewer rates and connection fees, she said.

For the past several years, Sedro-Woolley officials have expected a flood of applications to be submitted to the city once the moratorium has been cleared.

But that may not be the case, said Louie Requa, Council member and co-owner of Skagit Surveyors and Engineers in Sedro-Woolley.

He said he doesn’t think the city will receive a large number of new applicants.

“I think it has a lot to do with the economy right now,” Requa said.

At Skagit Surveyors and Engineers, clients are holding back on development projects as they wait out the November election and see how the economy shakes out in 2009, he said.

He said he thinks people will proceed with projects that were underway before the moratorium was in effect.

City Supervisor and Attorney Eron Berg said he agrees with the prediction.

“We will see applications, but it won’t be a flood,” he said.

But city officials said regardless of when growth happens, they know it is coming. That is why city officials are preparing for future growth.

It would seem predictable for Sedro-Woolley to double in size, Berg said. It might be in a few years or it might take 50 — who knows, he said.

In the meantime, city officials have plans to improve the city’s infrastructure in order to handle potential growth that could be attributed to lifting the moratorium.

Some future improvements include constructing roundabouts on Highway 20 and a second fire station on Portobello Avenue if approved by voters in November. Officials have even discussed hiring an economic development planner in the future.

Everything the city is doing as far as planning is to address possible growth for the future, Berg said.

“It seems as though Skagit County is in a position to grow at a good pace,” he said. “It’s not just the quality of life with communities — Sedro-Woolley, for sure — but its geographic location.”