Amarillo city officials are weighing next steps on a proposed wastewater extension project that could support significant residential growth in the city’s southwest area.
During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Assistant City Manager Donny Hooper outlined plans for a wastewater line extension near Osage Street and 58th Avenue. The project was requested by The Williams Group as part of a development that could bring more than 1,100 new homes to the area, which currently lacks a sewer main.
Hooper explained that while the concept for the project dates back nearly a decade, progress has stalled due to funding challenges. Originally introduced in 2016, the design phase was later deemed “grossly underfunded” in 2017. As a result, the effort was shelved and allocated funds were redirected elsewhere.
The current proposal would connect two existing water mains and includes an estimated $250,000 for design work, with total construction costs projected at $2.7 million.
City staff must evaluate such proposals based on criteria outlined in Amarillo’s development policy manual, including public interest, alignment with the city’s master plan, and available funding. According to Hooper, the project meets only one of those benchmarks.
While the extension would serve the public interest by enabling housing development, it is not included in the city’s master plan, and no funding has been identified so far.
Still, Hooper emphasized the value of moving forward with preliminary design work to better position the city for future opportunities.
“But the idea would be to create a shovel-ready project—or set up plans and specs for this project—and then that would give staff time to evaluate possible construction participation that we bring back to council at the appropriate time based on the ROI analysis that we would look at while design is occurring, because there’s a lot of other things that we have to look at in the ROI,” Hooper said.
Officials noted that potential returns on investment could come from increased property tax revenues and utility fees generated by the new homes.
Council members did not take immediate action but indicated the item could return soon for a formal vote. Mayor Cole Stanley suggested placing it on a future agenda, while City Manager Grayson Path said that could happen once funding options for the design phase are identified.
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