Garden Parkway cost too high for city, council members say

BELMONT, N.C. — Some city council members in Belmont said the cost to get ready for the Garden Parkway is too high and it will prevent them from working on other projects.

The parkway, a toll road, will stretch from Charlotte-Douglas Airport to Bessemer City.

In 2004, the N.C. Department of Transportation allowed the city to build utility lines here through its land along the route with the agreement that the city would pay to move them if there were significant development there.

But city council members like Bill Toole said they never expected any project like the parkway to happen, much less so quickly. He added the city cannot afford it.

"We've got a lot of communities that are in line for getting their pipes fixed," Toole said.

One of those neighborhoods is where Ruth Smith lives.

"We've got a problem in this neighborhood, and they know it," Smith said.

Smith has lived on Live Oak Avenue just off North Main Street in Belmont for 15 years, and she sees the same problems every time it rains.

"Several of the streets go underwater," she said. "The gutter lines fill up, clog up constantly. They need repair. The concrete's falling apart."

Toole said the cost of moving the water and sewer lines under South Point Road to make way for the Garden Parkway toll road would stretch the city’s budget thin. He said the city engineer told him it would cost $600,000 to $1 million.

Monday night, officials with the N.C. Turnpike Authority said otherwise.

"I would tell you that I don't know where that number's come from," Bob Clay with the N.C. Turnpike Authority said.

State Department of Transportation officials estimate moving the lines would cost about $562,791 or even less, including upgrades to the system. They said there would be a one-year grace period after construction finished, and then the city of Belmont would pay in annual installments for three years, interest free.

After that, there would mostly likely be an 8 percent interest rate, which officials said is by statute.

"That's loan sharking!" Toole said. "It's forcing us to make hard decisions about how to spend our money."

He said he wants the city to review its financing options.

NCDOT said it is working with engineers to bring down costs and hopes to have a contract signed with Belmont by fall of 2012.

WSOC