Street committee to recommend Methodists' plan to Sylva board

By Lynn Hotaling

Presented by Dr. Joe Hurt, chairman of Sylva United Methodist Church's trustees, the proposal calls for the church to fund upgrades to Cowan Street in return for action by the town board to close Church Street, which bisects the Methodists' campus.

The church proposal, developed by engineer Alex Stillwell of Sylva, calls for widening Cowan Street in accordance with Powell Bill requirements and installing a storm water drainage system to capture runoff and pipe it into Sylva's storm sewer system.

Hurt told members of the street committee - town board members Eldridge Painter, Eldon Cabe and Danny Allen - that the church would construct and fund the entire $144,000 project with the understanding that Sylva would reimburse the church $40,000 for the drainage system.

Stillwell's plan indicates the project can be built for $104,000 less than the $248,000 estimate obtained during the summer of 2001, Hurt said.

"This plan puts the entire water project on church property. Our plan is to do a turnkey operation and turn it over to the town," Hurt said "We're willing to put in the water system now with the understanding that the town will reimburse us $40,000 over three years."

The proposal offers significant advantages to the town over the previous plan, Hurt said, because it saves town officials the cost of engineering, construction oversight and right of way acquisition.

"It satisfies the (Powell Bill) requirements at half the expense of the previous proposal," Hurt said. "It also meets the (town's) storm water runoff mandate and spreads the cost over three years."

Cabe acknowledged that Sylva officials would have to address drainage sooner or later.

"The town's going to have to take care of the water runoff whether (the church) builds it or not," Cabe said.

Painter, who chairs the street committee, told church representatives that the plan would be presented to the full Sylva board during tonight's (Feb. 6) meeting.

Discussion concerning the fate of Church and Cowan streets began almost two years ago when Methodist leaders asked the town board to close Church Street to clear the way for planned church expansion. That request was unanimously approved in January 2002, but approval was made contingent on Sylva Methodist bearing the cost of needed improvements to Cowan Street.

An October 2001 recommendation by the town's street committee indicated that the lower portion of Cowan would have to be upgraded before considering closing Church, which connects Jackson Street with upper Cowan Street. Church serves as an alternative to the unimproved, one-lane portion of Cowan, and committee members said closing Church without improving Cowan would compromise access of emergency vehicles to residences on Cowan Street.

Methodists and town officials seemed on the verge of agreeing to split the cost of Cowan Street repairs in October 2001 when it was discovered that the church's zoning classification would have to be changed before any expansion could occur.

By the time Sylva Methodist was rezoned from R-1 (single-family residential only) to R-1A (which permits churches, libraries and bed and breakfasts) in December 2001, the composition of the town board had changed. A month later town officials said Methodists would need to fund upgrades to Cowan if Church Street is to be closed.

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