China Grove annexation plan up for comment Tuesday

BY JESSIE BURCHETTE
SALISBURY POST

CHINA GROVE —Town officials will roll out their final annexation plan for public comment Tuesday evening.

The drastically reduced annexation plan isn’t set in stone. The Board of Aldermen hasn’t decided what portion of the south end along Bostian Road and U.S. 29 will be included. Aldermen will make a final decision on the south end section after a meeting with the Landis Board of Aldermen.

For purposes of the 7:30 p.m. Tuesday hearing, the entire area will be included in the discussion. The Landis and China Grove boards are scheduled to meet Aug. 7 to try to reach an agreement on annexation.

Landis Mayor Fred Steen has a map which was drawn several years ago with “spheres of influence” for the two towns. China Grove officials have referred to a verbal agreement that was made with Landis many years ago about a boundary, but there is disagreement over the location of that boundary.

In recent weeks, China Grove Alderman John Miller has complained repeatedly about a Landis plan to annex areas along Patterson Street and up Stirewalt Road on the west side of China Grove. At a meeting last week, China Grove aldermen expressed concern that if they don’t annex the area along Bostian Road and U.S. 29, it will open the door for Landis to annex.

Officials in Landis have said little about annexation. The Landis board recently approved a contract with planners from the Centralina Council of Governments to look at areas along Flat Rock Road and at another an area served by the East Landis water system.

China Grove Alderman Vernon Johnson recently suggested that the two towns should work together to serve the U.S. 29 area. Noting the high cost of installing pump stations to move sewage, Johnson said it’s too expensive for either town to go it alone.

At an earlier workshop on the annexation plan, most of the opposition came from residents of the Mary Street and North Main Street areas. Those areas have since been drastically cut, and nearly 100 property owners have been notified that they have been removed from the annexation area.

About 450 property owners are still subject to annexation, most in the south end. China Grove is scheduled to take action in September on a final annexation plan.

Aldermen discussed the possibility of serving the south area with water lines and a septic tank service agreement, reducing the immediate cost. Most recent figures on annexation indicate the cost will be around $350,000, a fraction of the original $6 million price tag.

A detailed copy of the annexation will be on display at the Municipal Building at 205 Swink St. on Monday and Tuesday. Smith said that if a large crowd shows up for the Tuesday evening hearing at the Municipal Building, the meeting may have to be moved to the Community Building.