Alex Sullivan of NJR Group, left, addresses the China Grove Town Council on June 3 regarding his company's progress on the downtown streetscape project. - Chandler Inions

CHINA GROVE — China Grove’s downtown has been the site of construction work for weeks now and delays have drawn the ire of elected officials.

During the most recent China Grove Town Council meeting, Alex Sullivan, who Town Manager Franklin Gover described as a project manager, spoke on behalf of NJR Group, the company behind the streetscapes project.

“I just wanted to share some updates about the streetscapes project in downtown … address some of the frustrations that you all are seeing,” Sullivan said.

Initially, the project was slated to take two months. However, an unexpected encounter with concrete during drilling prompted delays.

“As far as frustrations go, the drilling and the rebar has been a big part of this,” Sullivan said. “When we first got into the roadway portion of things, we about hit our worst case scenario (concrete).”

Almost any other outcome would have been preferable according to Sullivan. 

“I would rather have hit a water main,” he said. “We could have fixed that and moved on. With concrete, that is something that stops everything so what we had to do was back up and get together with the DOT (Department of Transportation) since it is a DOT road and come up with a solution. The solution that was put forward was to drill and place eight inch rebar into that concrete. With that being said, that takes a tremendous amount of time.”

With China Grove’s marquee annual event, Farmers Day, on the horizon (July 19), town officials are worried what the delays could mean. 

“We want to get this done as soon as possible, I promise you,” Sullivan said. “That is what we are fully intending, before Farmers Day. I talked to the last sub I have in. He is the tree guy. To make everything nice and pretty … I told him to be here on July 7. He said I need a week. That saves us if it rains a day or two.”

Councilor Don Bringle was incredulous of Sullivan’s timeline. 

“July 7 is only, what, four weeks away?” Bringle said. “Ain’t no way. You can’t stand there and say that.”

Bringle asked about a noticeable drop off in manpower from one week to the next, which Sullivan indicated was due to DOT stoppages. 

“I know concrete was an excuse one time,” Bringle said. “You can schedule concrete out. Getting concrete is not an issue. Drilling concrete, yeah that takes a little bit of time, but if you attack it with manpower and the right equipment you can drill in there. I don’t know how good of an excuse that is. We certainly are as a board of elected officials hearing a lot about the problems with the process, a tremendous amount.”

The heightened visibility of a project on the town’s main corridor doesn’t help the situation. 

“You have a lot of eyeballs looking at that project every day,” Bringle said. “Most of us around this table have been in this community most of our lifetime. People know us. You go to church, you hear about it. You go to the barber shop, you hear about it. You go downtown, you hear about it. You go home, you hear about it. There ain’t no win in this process. I’ve been in government 20 years. We have had taxes increase and a lot of things but this has been the most controversial process that I have experienced. I think I may have had one or two positive comments. It is really disheartening.”

Several of Bringle’s colleagues confirmed being on the receiving end of complaints.

“I am very displeased,” Councilor Lee Withers said. “I am tired. I don’t think it has been managed well. I’m not happy with where we are.”

Withers said that the timeline modification has been most distressing.

“(It turned a) two-month contract into a four-month contract,” he said. “This is August … that is unnerving. Talking to staff, we were not aware of it being that long of a delay. We have to be better. We have got to do better.”

Like his fellow board members, Withers is focused on having the space ready for Farmers Day, which he acknowledged was a long shot at best. 

Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Starnes was more optimistic. 

“When you do a project like this, you run into unexpected things and we have to be adaptable and flexible and understand that is something you have to deal with,” he said. “You say you want to be done before Farmers Day. We say that is a very important time to be done. I would encourage you to do everything you can to get it done and deliver when everyone else says it is impossible. I’m rooting for you.”

Starnes remarked how high-profile projects are by nature working against the grain. 

“You guys are taking on a project and most people have trouble with change,” he said. “It is not a reflection of you guys. It is change in general. 

Councilor Arthur Heggins joined Starnes in challenging NJR Group to find a way to get it done.

“The ball is in your hands but this is our biggest concern and the complaints that we get,” Heggins said. “…I hope you all understand what is going on with the board and the town itself. We hope you are successful in your desires to complete this project.”