Agreement on development shelved by aldermen

The New Bern Board of Aldermen on Tuesday shelved an agreement with Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Development Co. to provide about a half million gallons of daily water and sewer service for a planned mixed use development.

The developer needs permitted sewage treatment for the 586-acre property at N.C. 43 and U.S. 70, which it intends to annex to the city in the future, according to the agreement.

The annexed area would be in Alderman Johnnie Ray Kinsey’s ward.

“I don’t have enough information to be briefed on what’s going on if someone were to come ask me about this,” Kinsey said, adding that he received the information on Friday. “So, I would like to ask that we take this to a work session.”

Alderman Dana Outlaw was unwilling to provide his approval, saying he would prefer that this and any agreement of this type receive more study.

“All these deals are these slam-dunk deals … deals that we come out smelling like a rose and yet we still have high rates and a low fund balance,” Outlaw said before the meeting.

Outlaw would prefer a committee of city officials, experts and the developer complete an analysis and provide the board with a report as to how such agreements will affect the city’s sewer capacity in the future. He worries, he said, that such sewer agreements would make the city system reach its maximum capacity, costing the city millions of dollars in the future to upgrade.

However, the existing sewer system was designed to handle such growth to the west of the city, and such connections are already part of the system’s capacity plan, said Jordan Hughes, the city engineer.

“We anticipated a flow from the western part of town,” Hughes said. “We have put improvements in our sewer system in place over the last couple years.”

The proposed agreement also sets a precedent for the city’s handling of such contracts.

“This type of agreement will accomplish from here on out what will be the developer’s responsibility and the city’s responsibility,” Hughes said. “It will protect the city.”

Interim City Manager Ed Wyatt also recommended that the board take the potential fiscal impact of the development under advisement, considering how an annexation might require an expansion of other city services.

“Things of this magnitude come to the governing body from now on,” Wyatt said.

The city approved the zoning for the site in 2008. The proposed development may include a cinema, shops, schools, offices and restaurants, as well as houses, townhouses and apartments.

The board will more closely examine the proposed agreement at a work session on Aug. 17.

The aldermen approved an agreement with the Town of Trent Woods that releases the city from a 2002 agreement to construct a storm drain in exchange for retaining ownership of two real estate lots.

The 2002 deal was part of the Town of Trent Woods sewer collection system project, for which the city agreed to purchase three lots, finance and build the sewer collection system and construct the storm drain. In return the Town of Trent Woods agreed to make annual payments to reimburse the city for its installment loan obligation in relation to the sewer collection system construction. The city was to retain ownership of two lots to offset the cost of building the storm drain.

From the new agreement, the Town of Trent Woods receives the two lots from the city in exchange for its agreement to release the city from its obligation to build the storm drain.

“We owe that to Trent Woods,” Hughes said. “It gets the city out of having to put up the money right now to build a storm drain.”

The Town of Trent Woods pays for its sewer collection system and New Bern increased its customer base through the deal, he said.

“This was their money. They paid for all this,” City Attorney Scott Davis said. “We’re not giving away anything.” 

P. Christine Smith can be reached at 252-635-5666 or pcsmith@freedomenc.com.