Richmond Mayor Levar M. Stoney apparently is seeking to overturn a 16-year-old ban on development in a public park in South Side.

He is doing so in a bid to meet a Chesterfield County request to boost its purchase of drinking water from Richmond. The county now buys 27 million gallons a day and wants to increase the amount by 5 million gallons, to 32 million gallons daily.

Under a proposal the mayor has sent to Richmond City Council, he is seeking approval to lease a portion of the 106-acre Lewis G. Larus Park, 8850 W. Huguenot Road, to the county for construction of a new pumping station and transmission line to get the additional water to its customers.

As described to the council, the new facility would be paid for by the county.

The administration did not explain how many acres of the park’s woodland would be disturbed.

While the Stoney administration insists the park property can be used for this purpose, it appears to run afoul of a development ban that was put in place in February 2001.

Under Mayor Stoney’s plan, Chesterfield County would pay an average of $1.3 million a year for the additional 5 million gallons in 2020, when the construction would be completed and the new equipment ready for use.

The county also is promising to pay the city for the trees that would need to be removed and to develop a small, 10-car parking lot at the park.

The site was chosen because it is adjacent to the pumping station through which the city now ships water to Chesterfield.

In a statement attached to the proposed legislation, the Stoney administration notified the council that encroaching into Larus Park “is in accordance with city code,” although the administration did not mention the code section that contains that authority.

Not so, according to Dr. Charles Price, one of Richmond’s most active parks advocates who, among other things, is credited with the creation of the Cannon Park Greenway bicycle and pedestrian trail in North Side.

He points to a strict ban on development in Larus Park contained in Section 8-2 (c) of the City Code.

That section bars the city from leasing any section of Larus and other parks for “any purpose that would result in or involve any development.” Also covered are Bandy Field Park, Crooked Branch Ravine Park and the James River Park system.

If that ban sticks, the Stoney administration would have to seek another site.

The mayor and other city officials weren’t immediately available to comment on the code section and how they believe they could get around it.

And there may be another barrier to the use of the park — the deed that transferred the Larus property to the city in 1975.

The deed includes a stipulation that the former owners or their heirs must approve any installation of utilities, roads or other infrastructure in the park.

Even if the administration can overcome those hurdles, it is sure to face opposition from Richmond residents upset that they are paying far more for city water than Chesterfield County residents.

According to Robert Steidel, director of the Richmond Department of Public Utilities, the wholesale price Chesterfield will pay for the new capacity will be 74 cents per 100 cubic feet, or 748 gallons. One cubic foot equals 7.48 gallons.

The wholesale price is 5 percent above the city’s cost of production from its plant, 70.5 cents per 100 cubic feet, he stated.

To Charles Pool, an Oregon Hill resident who for years has been arguing that city water customers are being overcharged, the price Chesterfield County pays for city water is an outrage.

He noted that Richmond residents are now paying five times as much for 100 cubic feet of water. The city’s published rate shows city residents pay a retail charge of $3.82 for each 100 cubic feet used. And a review of rates indicates that city customers are paying the highest charge for water in the state.

For example, Chesterfield County water customers pay a retail cost of $1.81 per 100 cubic feet of water delivered to their homes or businesses.

Mr. Steidel told the Free Press that Richmond customers pay more because they are getting more services included with the water.

Chesterfield currently pays 74 cents per 100 cubic feet to “receive 27 million gallons of safe water ready to drink,” he stated.

But the county does not get water “for fire protection, emergency power backup, water-testing services, engineering services, customer service or billing services,” he stated, largely unseen services that are included in city rates.

He said city rates also include the cost of construction and maintenance of pipes and treatment equipment. He said Chesterfield County, and other wholesale purchasers, including Henrico and Hanover counties, pay their share of capital costs separately. Chesterfield, for example, pays more than $4.1 million a year for its share of capital costs.

He also acknowledged that city water users are paying more because the price of water includes a hidden tax.

Essentially, the City Charter requires the department of utilities, after covering all of its costs, to pay into the general fund an amount equal to the federal tax on earnings that would be paid if it were a private business. It also pays the equivalent of city real estate and personal property taxes on its property.

In the current year, the utilities department is providing about $27 million in its payment in lieu of taxes. That payment has been and remains essential for the mayor and council to maintain a balanced budget.

“No other utility in Virginia has to pay the equivalent of federal taxes to the local government,” Mr. Pool said. “It is upsetting that in a city in which one in four people live in poverty, our leaders continue to use utilities as a ‘cash cow’ for the general fund.

“That raises the price that everyone has to pay for such necessities as drinking water and wastewater treatment,” he said. “It is an unfair burden that leaves residents paying far more for utility service than necessary.”