Isle of Wight County supervisors voted unanimously on May 15 to approve construction of a water tower adjacent to the new Riverside Smithfield Hospital.

The county’s Public Utilities Department sought a special use permit to allow the 750,000-gallon tank to exceed the maximum allowed height for its zoning.

The land where the tower will be built is zoned rural agricultural conservation, or RAC, which allows up to 35 feet, or three stories, for most structures. The county code contains an exception for water towers that allows them to exceed the limit by 100 feet, but anything more requires the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors to approve a permit.

In this case, the tower would exceed the maximum height by 30 feet. It will be similar in design but larger than the one erected behind Hardy Elementary that holds 500,000 gallons.

County Administrator Randy Keaton said the additional height is needed to increase water pressure serving the hospital and the adjacent Benn’s Grant subdivision.

Isle of Wight received $1.2 million in federal funding for the project last year.

Keaton said last year that the federal money will be combined with $1.6 million proffered by East West Communities, the developer of Benn’s Grant, and $1.6 million from water and sewer tap fees the county has collected from Benn’s Grant, for around $4.9 million in total. The tower will provide increased water pressure for the 50-bed hospital and surrounding area via a water line that runs parallel with Benns Church Boulevard from Smithfield High School to the Isle of Wight-Suffolk line.

Plans for the water tower have been in the works for roughly two decades. Isle of Wight solicited bids for the project on Feb. 21, giving a due date of May 15. Three bids ranged from $5.6 million to $8.4 million. The county has not awarded a contract.

“We’re a little bit short, about $700,000 or $800,000 short on the construction side,” Keaton said. “We will be meeting with the low bidder. We do have an opportunity to negotiate with the low bidder and then we’ll be bringing back a recommendation for you at our next meeting,”

The exterior of the 50-bed hospital is on track to be largely complete this summer, according to senior project manager Russell Parrish. It’s set to open in January. The detached 27,000-square-foot Jamison-Longford medical office on the 30-acre campus with the hospital is on track to be complete by early June and open by August.

Utilities Director Uwe Weindel told the Planning Commission a month earlier that a temporary fire pump would be needed when the hospital opens to operate the sprinkler system until the tank is completed. Construction of the water tower, he said, should take a year to 18 months.