ELIZABETHTOWN — The Elizabethtown Public Works Department is the loser in a battle between the town and Duke Energy.
In the spring of 2016, Elizabethtown received a grant from the Division of Aviation for a new terminal, $20,000 of which was to cover demolition costs of the existing structure. When town administrators began talking with architects, a suggestion was made to re-purpose the building instead of demolishing it.
Around the same time, the town was considering renovations to the current Public Works building.
“The Public Works building is an old building, and the guys working in that department do a great job,” said Councilman Dicky Glenn. “I think it’s time we do something for them.”
At August’s meeting, Glenn suggested an air-conditioned break room, locker room, and showers, and at the February budget planning retreat, the Capital Improvement Plan presented by Chief Finance Officer Jay Leatherman included $100,000 to relocate the current terminal to Swanzy Street and to equip it with some of the modifications Glenn proposed.
However, at the April 3 meeting, just as the new terminal was scheduled to go out for bidding, what to do with the current building became an issue again.
“We’ve spent a lot of time and energy determining whether it’s feasible to relocate the terminal to Swanzy Street to serve the Public Works Department,” Town Manager Eddie Madden told the board last Monday. “Just when we felt we were getting close to making a recommendation to you, we had to change direction. One of the things that caused us to have to eliminate moving the terminal building is Duke Energy’s expense for raising power lines.”
Duke Energy requires the 30-foot power lines to be cleared by at least 10 feet, Madden said, which the almost-25-foot-tall terminal building will not do. To raise the power lines high enough to clear a route from the airport to Swanzy Street would cost the town between $100,000 and $200,000.
“We were hopeful the terminal building would work out, because, for essentially the same cost (as renovating the current Public Works building), we would net 3,500 square feet of usable space,” said Madden. “Duke Energy now makes that impossible.”
Chrysta Carroll can be reached by calling 910-862-4163.