A local church is appealing to a higher authority in efforts to have city water and sewer service extended to property where it is seeking to relocate: the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners.
However, some type of divine intervention could instead be needed to accomplish that goal without a huge cost — either for Refuge City Church or the municipal government — based on the history of the site involved.
It is located along a northbound portion of South Andy Griffith Parkway west of Newsome Street in what could be described as a “no man’s land” for utility connection purposes.
Refuge City Church, aka Refuge Ministry Inc., owns 4.18 acres there, according to county tax records.
“It was donated,” said Andrew Bullins, a co-pastor of the church that has about 100 members. It now is renting space at 1130 S. Main St. in a small strip mall where a Subway outlet also is located.
“We are going to build a new facility,” said Bullins, who in addition to his pastoral duties works as an intensive care nurse at Northern Regional Hospital.
The larger structure on the 4.18-acre tract would allow Refuge to expand its presence in the community, including providing space for a youth ministry and other components.
Water-sewer snag
While those associated with Refuge City Church are excited about the project, a damper of sorts has been placed over the plans concerning the availability of municipal water and sewer service at the site.
Bullins said when looking into this at the city staff level, he was told that the church would have to pay about $130,000 in order to have lines extended there.
It was his understanding utility access exists for property inside the city limits, without such an expense.
Bullins was advised to present the matter to the commissioners to gain possible relief, and did so during a public forum at their last meeting on Dec. 2.
“I am requesting that the city take care of that,” he said then of the apparent problem with the city providing utility lines to the Refuge Ministry property line without posing a huge cost to the church.
City Public Works Director Mitch Williams was instructed during the meeting to study the issue.
“There is nothing topographically prohibiting water and sewer being installed for it,” Williams explained later when asked to elaborate on the circumstances regarding the property owned by Refuge Ministry — which are not uncommon in Mount Airy.
“I do know there are dozens of lots around the city in the same exact situation,” the public works director and longtime city engineer acknowledged concerning issues with ready utility accessibility.
“I don’t know the exact history of this parcel or why is does not have water and sewer,” added Williams, who did mention that the same piece of property was the subject of a similar inquiry by Mount Airy officials in the summer of 2016.
It involved plans by a company to build at that location then owned by local businessman Gary Harold, which were derailed by the utility connectivity obstacle.
Due to no municipal water or sewer lines nearby to hook onto, the unnamed company was faced with footing the bill for extensions in order to acquire the utility services needed for its operations.
An estimate of $195,000 was given at that time.
Under the city’s utility policy, a private developer of property — not the local government — is required to pay all costs related to water and sewer line extensions to serve an area in question, based on discussions by officials in August 2016.
This is not a major hurdle in most cases, but the property involved in the present request is a good distance away from existing lines.
The tone of the discussion in 2016 was that the city government is not motivated to pay for such extensions, either to business or residential sites, due to the prohibitive cost factor — even if the areas are inside the municipal boundaries.
This could mean forking out several hundred thousand dollars just to provide service to one house, which is not feasible, it was noted then.
Williams advised Wednesday that he plans to have a presentation ready for the commissioners’ next meeting.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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