Intel-era growth in western Licking County: a septic owner guide

Few places in Ohio have changed as fast on paper as the corner where Franklin, Licking, and Delaware counties meet. For homeowners on septic in and around Johnstown, Jersey Township, Pataskala, and the edges of New Albany, that growth raises practical questions: will sewer come, who will provide it, and what should you do with an aging system in the meantime? Here is what is known in 2026.

The project that set it moving

Intel chose the Licking County portion of the New Albany International Business Park for its Ohio One campus, first announced as a $20 billion investment and raised to $28 billion in March 2024, according to the City of New Albany. The timeline has slipped repeatedly. In March 2025, Intel pushed completion of its two fabs to 2030 and 2031, and reporting in March 2026 described production at the first building starting between 2030 and 2031, with the second beginning operations in 2032.

For septic owners nearby, the headline is not the chip plant itself; it is the water and sewer lines that growth tends to pull behind it.

Who provides sewer where

Utility service in this corner is divided by agreements, not just county lines. In July 2022, the Newark Advocate reported that Licking County commissioners approved expanding the City of Columbus water and sewer service area by 692 acres to the southwest corner of Mink Street and Green Chapel Road, the boundary of the Intel site south of Johnstown. Officials described Mink Street as the new boundary between the Columbus and Southwest Licking service areas, with land west of Mink served through New Albany and Columbus and land east served by the Southwest Licking district. The change required an amendment to Ohio EPA's 208 plan, the areawide plan that assigns wastewater service to geographic areas.

New Albany, for its part, contracts with the City of Columbus for water service and maintains its own sanitary sewer lines, with the wastewater treated at a Columbus plant.

The Southwest Licking district has since become the Licking Regional Water District. The Licking County Court of Common Pleas approved the new name on November 7, 2024, and Jersey Township joined Etna Township, Harrison Township, and the City of Pataskala in its service area. The district has also opened the 2.5 million gallon per day Wagram wastewater treatment center to expand capacity for Etna Township and Pataskala.

What that means for a house on septic

Sewer may come, but not on your schedule. A service area says who will provide sewer when lines are built, not when a main will reach a particular road. Residential extensions follow development, funding, and engineering, and many homes inside a service area will stay on septic for years.

If a main arrives, connection may become required. Under Ohio Revised Code 6117.51, county commissioners can order connection for structures within 200 feet of the sewer right-of-way when the board of health ties the project to an existing health problem, with 90 days to comply. Utilities can also set their own connection rules, so read any notice closely and attend the public meetings.

Connection has a price. The Licking Regional Water District lists $10,000 for a residential sewer connection in 2026 where no capacity fee has been charged, plus a metered monthly minimum of $38.84. The private lateral and the tank abandonment come on top.

Your system still has to work until then. Licking County Health Department enrolls all systems in its operation and maintenance program, inspects soil absorption systems such as trenches and mounds every five years, and inspects discharging and drip systems every year. A failing system gets no pass because sewer might arrive someday.

Repair, replace, or wait?

This is where the growth changes real decisions:

• Healthy system, no main planned for your road: maintain it normally. Pump on the interval your tank and household need, keep service records, and treat it as a long-term asset.
• Aging system, main under discussion: favor repairs that restore function (baffles, filters, a distribution box, a pump) over a full replacement, and ask the utility and the county about timing before committing to a new field.
• Failing field, no firm sewer timeline: replace it. A surfacing field is a health problem today, and the health district will expect it fixed whatever the future holds. Income-qualified owners should ask about Ohio EPA grant money, which Licking County can apply to repairs, replacements, or sewer connections.
• Main already at the road: price connection against replacement before signing anything.

Signals worth watching

Growth rarely announces itself with a letter to your door. The more useful signals are local and public: new subdivision plats and utility easements along your road, water and sewer district board agendas and capital plans, township zoning hearings, and any county notice about a sewer project or assessment. Jersey Township now appoints a member to the Licking Regional Water District's board of trustees, so the district's meetings are one place where extension plans surface. None of these signals commits a main to your road, but together they tell you whether to plan around a septic replacement or hold off on one.

Buying near the growth

If you are looking at an older home on acreage in Jersey Township or around Johnstown, treat the septic system the way you would anywhere else: pull the county file, get a full evaluation, test the well, and ask the utility whether the parcel lies in a sewer service area and whether any extension is scheduled. A house that looks ripe for sewer can still be a decade away from a main.

For a full evaluation before buying, see the inspection page, and for the numbers on connecting, read our breakdown of septic to sewer costs.