MOUNT VERNON — County officials and real estate developers reached an agreement to allow work to proceed on The Reserves, near Apple Valley.

Ryan Snyder of S&S Construction and landowner Mark Ramser had previously asked the commissioners for a reasonable exception to the county’s water and wastewater fees, considering that the proposed development would group 100 condominium units together.

In previous meetings, the Knox County Commissioners, water and wastewater supervisor Ron Simpson, and the developers have discussed various contingencies, including requirements that the developers incorporate features in the system to keep the development standard to the county’s system in case the residents’ association should ever discontinue, forcing the county to take over maintenance of the system.

The officials agreed Thursday for the development to have one 8-inch master meter for the condominiums with one meter for the combined units, instead of separate hook-ups for each unit, which would have skyrocketed the developers’ meter and connection fees to a prohibitive level. The association will pay one monthly minimum fee for a usage of 12,000 gallons of water, set at the county’s current level of $91 for 12,000 gallons of water and wastewater, with water costing an additional $4.05 for every 1,000 gallons beyond 12,000 that are used, and wastewater costing an additional $3.60 for every 1,000 gallons beyond 12,000.

The development’s impact upon the county water supply will be addressed by payment of a $181,004.80 impact fee in installments as the development is finished in four phases.