Split Board Approves New Tower Plan

By Emily Weaver and Tom Woerner
Dunn Daily Record

ANGIER – A split Angier board approved an alternative plan Tuesday night to solve the issue of building a new water tower that everybody needs in town, but nobody wants in their backyard. The plan was approved in a 3-2 vote on a motion that made it to the floor without a second.

The motion came from a commissioner with a vested interest and one of the three “yea” votes came from a commissioner who didn’t vote, but the proposition passed when the mayor broke the tie. The completion of this plan will cost taxpayers an extra $500,000.

Angier’s original goal was to dismantle and replace the current towers on Dora Street and Junny Road, but a zoning hurdle on Dora and a gift of land on Junny changed things. On Jan. 12, BullDog Hose Company gave the town 1.143 acres of land to place the new tower next to their campus. The new location, however, is across the street from an entrance to the upper end Whetstone subdivision.

Commissioner Loru Hawley, who lives in Whetstone, expressed dismay after hearing the new tower’s proposed location and the fact she and her neighbors weren’t informed.

“None of us knew what was going on,” said Hawley’s husband, Brian Hawley, in a public comment at the meeting. “I’m just confused on why the town did not notify the citizens on something that’s going to really or possibly impact our property values.”

Commissioner Hawley opposed the tower in their backyard and asked for more time to hear from residents who weren’t at the meeting.

“We are not serving the citizens of Whetstone fairly,” she said. “The only voice they have, is me up here fighting like hell for them.”

She proposed the board table the plan to give them more time to consider all options. That motion died for lack of a second. 

An hour of debate ensued with residents pleading for more water pressure and fixes to the town’s current ailing system. 

Property owners on Dora Street didn’t want the tower there. 

A resident next to the current tower on Junny that floods her yard every time it’s flushed, didn’t want it there. 

The new 500,000-gallon tower is needed to accommodate explosive growth in the town. The gift of land from Bulldog offers to save Angier at least $30,000 in costs to demolish the current tank on Dora Street.

The Dora option

Replacing the Dora Street tank with a new 180-foot-tall tower would come with other costs, including unknown expenditures for demolishing existing structures and moving water connections on the site. Taking the Dora tank offline to build the new one would also continue to cost the town $15,000 a month to drain and flush the Junny Road standpipe, which would be needed to maintain water quality. For a two-year construction project, that would cost $360,000. And this option would exacerbate water pressure issues during times of peak flow.

The Dora Street tank site is also zoned residential so a new tank construction would require a special permit and public hearing, adding delays.

A southern option

Town officials discussed the pros and cons of another option in finding a new site in the southern part of town.

“Due to the topography of the land in this area of town, the tank would more than likely be over 200 feet in height, which would result in significantly higher construction costs,” Interim Town Manager Richard Hicks told the commissioners.

The town would also have to buy the land at a time when real estate is at a premium. Depending on a site’s zoning classification, this option may also require a special permit and public hearing.

“Finding a new site and completing the necessary due diligence investigations would be time consuming and would further delay the project and could potentially impact the funding sources,” Hicks cautioned.

The BullDog option

The donated site on Junny Road is already zoned to allow utility facilities, requiring no special permit or public hearing.

It was that “no public hearing” that caught Whetstone neighbors off guard.  

“Due to potential neighborhood concerns, the town should consider extensive landscape buffers and plantings, which would be an additional cost,” Hicks said. “The tank on this site would be approximately 160 feet in height due to being at one of the highest points in town. This would result in lower construction costs. The location of this site would also place the tank in the central part of the town’s water system.”

This option would also require an extension of a 12-inch waterline that isn’t currently available on the Dora site.

“The Dora Street tank would remain in service and the Junny Road standpipe could be connected directly to Bulldog’s fire suppression system at a cost of $78,000 and the cost of constantly draining the standpipe (at $15,000 a month) could be eliminated … after the new connection is made,” Hicks said.

‘Hideous’

Another option surfaced around aesthetics. Former Commissioner Mike Hill suggested the town look at a pedestal tower, which would cost more, but look better.

“We need the water tower and it’s going to be there. I don’t have a problem with that, but that four-legged water tower is pretty hideous,” said Commissioner Hawley.

Mayor Bob Smith said that type of tower would cost Angier an extra $500,000.

“The board certainly took that into account at the last meeting and decided to save the $500,000, but if there were a donor to make up the difference, certainly, the pedestal tank would be preferable,” he said.

“Wouldn’t we be able to get it if we’re going to be getting money from the state?” Commissioner Hawley asked.

“What guarantee would there be that we’re getting the money?” asked Commissioner Jim Kazakavage. “If we go ahead and do it and we don’t get the money, now we’ve got to raise taxes …”

“I don’t think we’re going to be raising taxes so I really wish you all would stop saying, ‘raising taxes,’” Hawley countered.

Where else would the money come from? Kazakavage asked.

“Well, look around. We’re building all these subdivisions. The money is going to be coming in sooner or later from what we’ve been told by everybody,” Hawley said with outstretched arms.

“I’m hearing very mixed signals in what has changed here in the last 15 minutes. We went from I’m totally opposed to a water tower being there to, now I’m hearing, build a mushroom type (tower) that costs $500,000 more,” said Commissioner Alan Coats.

“I’m trying to take my emotions out of it and actually come up with a solution,” Hawley said.

Coats said the extra $500,000 would go a long way in fixing the town’s other issues with “pipes that are corroding under the ground.”

“Hopefully the legislature will come through. They’ve got about $3 billion extra,” Smith said. “But we can’t depend on that, necessarily.”

“No,” said Coats. “We cannot plan on money we don’t have. …

“There was always discussion that we would do a nice fence and vegetation and plantings along the front to cover the legs of that water tower so I don’t want it to sound like we were not trying to make it look the best it could possibly look,” Coats said.

“There is not enough vegetation to not see those legs,” Hawley said.

Hicks cautioned the board on other unseen expenses like cost overruns that are common in today’s economy.

After a few more minutes of debate, Hawley made a motion.

“I make a motion that we do the pedestal … on the Junny Road site,” she said. “And we’ve requested $2 million from the state that we should be hearing something (about) by June.”

Coats and Kazakavage voted against the motion.

Hawley voted for it.

Commissioner George “Jr” Price did not vote or give a reason for abstaining.

“If you don’t vote, that is a vote for,” the mayor told Price. “So it is a tie and I move to break the tie to approve the motion.”