ROCKINGHAM — The city reached an agreement Friday with the Sammy L. Whitley Construction Company Inc. to acquire sewer easements for the Hollybrook Pump Station Project after six weeks of negotiations had so far failed, leading the city council to vote on Tuesday to have the property condemned so that the project could move forward.

Officials determined that the project was “necessary and in the public interest” at it’s regularly scheduled meeting on July 11. The project would involve the construction of a new sanitary sewer pump station for a waste water collection, treatment and disposal system and a sanitary sewer system that would serve the Hollybrook area.

On July 27, Planning Director John Massey sent a memorandum to Mayor Steve Morris and the city council in which he said that city staff had been unable to successfully negotiate the acquisition of an easement from Whitley, and that the city attorney had recommended the city council ratify a resolution to condemn the property.

On Tuesday, that resolution passed and was set to move forward until the city agreed to pay Whitley $25,000 for the right to cross the property to install the sewer line, according to Rockingham City Manager Monty Crump. It is unclear what the city initially offered to pay for the easement.

“The difference between what the city offered and what Whitley later came back with was thought to be reasonable,” Crump said.

The city will now go ahead with it’s plan to build a 3,227-foot-long, 15-foot-wide sewer line which will follow the path of another easement previously obtained for a Duke Energy power line for minimal disturbance of the land.

The new sewer line will replace what Massey called an “antiquated” system because it was suspended in air, relying on gravity to move the waste water, and instead use a pump that is more reliable.

The old system was leaking at it’s joints and was “cumulatively getting worse,” according to Crump. The system is also located in a floodplain which would flood in heavy rain, potentially causing damage to the line.

The terms of the easement itself never changed throughout the negotiations, Crump said.

Whitley met once with Crump and twice with Massey to discuss the easement. It is unclear why the negotiations were previously unsuccessful or how much longer Whitley had before the property would have been condemned. If condemned, Whitley would still maintain ownership of the property, but the installation would continue without his permission.

“We would take possession of the property and install the sewer line and deposit money with the clerk of court and then [Whitley] could either accept that or he could go to a judge to determine if the payment was adequate and that would be the end of it,” Massey said. “All we’re doing is crossing his property with a sewer line and we’re following an existing transmission line there. So the property is still there, he can build roads on it, he could install other utilities there … it’s still his property for all practical purposes, we just have the right to cross it and install that sewer line and subsequently maintain it with in the 15-foot area.”

Three other properties are in the path of the easement, Duke Energy and two undisclosed private owners. All of these reached agreements with the city with little or no resistance.

Whitley could not be reached for comment Friday.

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By Gavin Stone

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