$6 million
sewer plan
jeopardized
By FULLER ROYAL
More than $6 million in grants for sewer systems in Boardman, Cerro Gordo and Fair Bluff could be at stake if officials with North Carolina’s Department of Transportation don’t change their policy concerning sewer lines along right-of-ways.
The snag involves almost 4,500 feet of 10-inch sewer main that would cross under U.S. 74 and then bore below the Lumber River before running parallel to U.S. 74 for more than three-fourths of a mile to Fairmont’s sewage treatment plant.
Project manager Bill Lester of Hobbs, Upchurch and Associates said that the DOT doesn’t want to set a precedent by allowing a sewer project to mix with a major highway, especially one that might end up as an interstate in the next decade.
The project began two years ago when Boardman was awarded an $850,000 Community Development Block Grant that would allow the town to build a sewer system that would connect into Fairmont’s plant.
Next, Cerro Gordo received a $3 million Unsewered Communities Grant from the Rural Center, allowing it to attach to Boardman.
Next, Fair Bluff wanted to mothball its existing, aging plant and connect to Cerro Gordo. It received $2 million from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund to do that.
County commissioners had agreed to use the county utility department to maintain the sewer system once it is built.
Boardman awarded its project to Frank Horne Construction. Horne was waiting on the okay from DOT.
Hobbs, Upchurch has been in negotiations with DOT officials at the Whiteville, Fayetteville and Raleigh levels. No one has approved the encroachment agreement.
The N.C. Department of Commerce has stated in writing that the Town of Boardman has until July 31 to spend its share of the sewer funds. Failure to do so will cost the town those funds.
With Boardman out of the picture, the entire project could be lost.
Because the section of sewer in question is in Robeson County, Boardman has no right to claim eminent domain. Lester said that alternate routes for the line pass through private property and those owners do not want a sewer line dug through their land.
Lester said that the towns are appealing the decision, hoping that special circumstances will allow the towns to complete the project as proposed.
“We’re kind of stuck in the middle right now,” Lester said. Already $275,000 has been spent on planning and designing the system.
On the eastern side of the county, officials working with the planned sewer line from Bolton to Whiteville don’t anticipate the same problem with DOT regulations. That line will parallel N.C. 214 (the old U.S. 74-76) within its right of way – far removed from U.S. 74-76.