The fight over who can serve new developments in the Sloan Gap Road area is officially over.

At Monday night’s city commission meeting, Benton Mayor Jerry Stephens shared a letter from Tim Lawson, General Manager of Ocoee Utilities, relinquishing some of the District’s wastewater rights. The letter specifies the area currently being developed along Sloan Gap and the Cookson Creek Road areas would be relinquished.

The letter states that Ocoee Utility District was withdrawing its request to partner with the Town of Benton as a wholesale wastewater customer. Benton had offered 10,000 gallons a day capacity, but Ocoee Utilities deemed that amount insufficient with no mechanism for future expansion, according to the letter. Had an agreement been reached, Stephens said, Benton would have been granted sewer rights for additional areas, such as along Old Federal Road.

Lawson said in his letter that he was disappointed that Benton never approached Ocoee Utilities regarding its desire to service this area “despite our attempts to request a meeting or at least some level of communication to address this situation.” He said such an effort “could have easily found resolution within a very short period of time.” According to Stephens, he made several calls to Ocoee Utilities, but his calls were never returned.

The county commission has been talking about ways to force Ocoee Utility District to give up its exclusive right to provide sewer service, saying Benton is in a position to expand the service, which will help with economic development. County Executive Mike Stinnett has said he is opposed to allocating 50,000-gallon capacity for Ocoee Utilities to use in Bradley County, as had been suggested.

In other business, Stephens reported to the board that paving for Patty Road, Benton Station and Clemmer Ferry Roads is set to begin this month.