Landis aldermen call for special meeting to decide on sewer improvements

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, September 11, 2018

LANDIS — The Board of Aldermen scheduled a special meeting to consider improvements to the sewer system.

Town Manager Reed Linn recommended Monday that the board hold off on making improvements to the water system and concentrate on the sewer system because of the increase of homes being built in Landis.

The town engineer said Landis has sewer pumps with a capacity of 80 gallons per minute, and they are at capacity. He recommended a 150- to 200-gallon-per-minute pump with bigger wet wells.

The aldermen will decide between two alternatives. The 1A alternative would start on South Main Street, continue to Coach Deal Road, North Chapel Street, Landis Oak Way and end at the U.S. 29 lift station, which would cost about $1.07 million. The 2A alternative would start on Everhart Avenue, continue to North Main Street, North Central Avenue, North Chapel Avenue, Landis Oak Way and end at U.S. 29 lift station, costing $1.17 million.

Linn said the sewer is not a budgeted project and the aldermen would have to approve a budget amendment. The construction of the sewer system, at the earliest, would begin in the next budget year. He said the town staff has started looking for grants and other funding.

The board unanimously decided to meet at 6 p.m. Sept. 17  to review the alternatives.

The board received recommendations for two initial zoning requests for Haskell Hardware on Pinnacle Way Drive and True Homes on Breckonridge Centre Drive. The board set an October public hearing on the requests.

Mayor Mike Mahaley made several comments at the end of the meeting, including a request to residents to not talk during meetings. He said the town staff had met Monday morning to be “as prepared as much as we can be” for the hurricane expected to hit North Carolina later this week. He said the town will cancel a cruise-in scheduled for Friday and will talk to participantsabout  having a makeup Sept. 21.

Nadine Cherry asked the aldermen why Corriher Field is being mowed after they voted in August to end mowing. Mahaley said the town will continue mowing the field because it received backlash from the property owner about ending the service and said the owner allows the town to use the field during the Christmas parade for no cost.

Tracy Lacks spoke about the town filling in some potholes and not others. Mahaley said potholes are not the aldermen’s responsibility. Lacks brought minutes from a June 1985 meeting that stated Lawing Drive would be annexed for town maintenance of unpaved streets. Lack said the town hasn’t fixed the potholes since the agreement was made. Mahaley spoke to Lacks and her family after the meeting.

Shelly Morgan asked Ron Miller, director of public works, about a Sept. 1 power outage and not receiving a notice, although her neighbors did. Miller said the outage was originally supposed to affect those notified, but when making the repairs crews realized a transformer was bad, causing the outage to be larger than expected.

The next Landis board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct.