Milton Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a special permitted use for Tidewater Utilities to build a new wastewater treatment plant on a 5-acre site on Sam Lucas Road.

Before building begins, Tidewater must still go through the site-plan review process. The permit is the first step toward building a new plant.

The land the plant would be built on is zoned R-3, general and multifamily residential use, prompting the need for a special-use permit.

Chris Derbyshire, architect with George, Miles and Buhr, said the new plant will consist of two buildings: one for processing, the other for solids handling. It will have the capacity to treat 350,000 gallons per day and remove biological nutrients, primarily nitrogen and phosphorus, Derbyshire said.

The solids-handling process would take waste-activated sludge and dewater it to create a cake that would then be trucked to Sussex County’s Inland Bays facility for additional treatment. Derbyshire said he anticipates one truckload about every two weeks.

Derbyshire said Tidewater has the ability to add 50 percent more capacity to accommodate residential growth. Once the new plant is online, the existing plant on Front Street, which has been in service since the 1980s, will be torn down and the land given back to the town.

Tidewater will continue to discharge treated effluent into the Broadkill River, under a permit from Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

Derbyshire said Tidewater would build a new force main and pipes to carry effluent from the Sam Lucas Road plant to the river.

Tidewater Director of Engineering Brian Carbaugh said an operator and a few others would work at the plant.

Town Council denied Tidewater’s request to sink a private well for water at the facility; Carbaugh said Tidewater is working with the town on setting up water service to the site.

Derbyshire said the plant figures to use only about 100 gallons a day.

Derbyshire said Tidewater is still working on drawings for the new plant, which will be submitted once the company files for preliminary site-plan review. Tidewater plans to break ground on the facility later this year and complete construction in 2021.