The Jefferson County Commission will be considering moving a sewer line that runs under the main runway at Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport.

Commissioners in their meeting Thursday approved a proposal is to conduct engineering design and construction engineering services for the relocation of a 12-inch sewer line from under the main runway to an accessible area along the north taxiway.

David Denard, director of Environmental Services, said the sewer line runs from the current Coca-Cola United bottling headquarters and the National Guard just north of the airport.

“It runs under the runway and connects into Village Creek,” Denard said during a meeting Tuesday when commissioners discussed the proposal. “We’ve had some maintenance issues. It’s an old line so we’re looking at the feasibility of relocating that line into the north taxiway and getting it out from under the runway. We really can’t do maintenance on an active runway, pretty obviously.

“The sewer was there before that part of the runway, as far as I know, was even there,” he said. “It’s old 50th Street right of way. It’s been there about 60, 70 years.”

The project would create the preliminary design of the sewer line and establish the cost of installing it. Denard said his department would work with the airport to determine whether there is Federal Aviation Administration funding available to help fund the work.

“I can’t say we’ve absolutely committed to doing the relocation with the construction,” Denard said, “but we’re starting that process. More than likely, we would reroute all that sewer that’s coming from Coca-Cola and the National Guard down that north taxiway.”

A pump station or something of that sort would pump sewage, which would continue to run on the north side of the interstate. The new line would run down toward existing sewer lines, heading toward Tallapoosa Street.

“Once we get that operational, we would probably pump grout into that old line so it won’t collapse and undermine the other taxiway or the runway,” the department head said. “It’ll be phased in where we’ll have the whole new line completely operational before we abandon the old one.”

Denard said having the sewer line under the main runway has previously caused problems.

“We’ve had some issues in the past with that old line and trying to get it maintained and get it fixed,” he said. “There’s been a lot of work and coordination with the airport. If we had a collapse on it, we’d have a hard time fixing it.

“All of the work we’ve done over the past several years … it’s been a whole lot of nighttime work, starting at midnight,” Denard said. “We may have a two-, three-, four-hour window where we can actually do work out there, unless they shut down that runway and go onto the east runway.”

Coca-Cola is building a new headquarters along and south of Interstate 20/59 on the former Stockham Valve and Fitting property. Denard said he doesn’t know what will become of the current Coca-Cola location but will certainly consider what could go there.

“We’ll obviously look at what could develop there,” he said. “We’ve got to design that so we’re not over capacity if something comes there.”

Thursday’s agenda also includes a resolution to authorize the commission president to execute an agreement between Jefferson County and the Birmingham Water Works Board. The agreement would have the county pay $67,450 for the installation of domestic and fire service connections to serve the Jefferson County Animal Care and Control facility.

Additionally, a resolution was sent to Thursday’s agenda to allow more time to complete the sale of the Hallmark Farm property for a farm center. If passed, the deadline to complete the deal would be pushed back from Nov. 30, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025.

The commission also moved its next committee meet from Dec. 3 to Dec. 5 at 8 a.m. The regular commission meeting will follow immediately afterward.

This story was updated Nov. 21 to include the commission’s approval of the study.