ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 31, 1997 TAG: 9703310026
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON THE ROANOKE TIMES
Public pressure is building on Franklin County and Rocky Mount to cooperate.
When Wal-Mart came to Franklin County last year, the company was prepared to do business.
It plunked down close to $500,000 to help pay for water and sewer services, and several parcels of land near the site quickly went on the market.
But a stalemate between the county Board of Supervisors and Rocky Mount Town Council has left the sites undeveloped, and the situation has resulted in a lawsuit against the town.
Wenco of Danville Inc., which wants to build a Wendy's in front of the Wal-Mart, has sought an injunction to force Rocky Mount to let it hook up to the town's sewer services.
Wenco claims the town has charged similar business customers in the Virginia 40 East corridor $6,525 for a sewer connection. Wenco has been asked to pay $125,000 to hook up, a town official said last week.
The company says that's unreasonable.
But the town says the history behind the decision bears a closer look.
While Wal-Mart paid for water and sewer, the town says, Franklin County hasn't been as accommodating.
The town built a $1.2 million sewer line and pump station outside the Rocky Mount town limits to serve the Wal-Mart site.
The county - which provides no water or sewer services - did not help pay for the sewer line, known as the Powder Mill project. Wal-Mart, however, chipped in $250,000 toward sewer and about $225,000 to upgrade water lines, according to several sources.
The town thought it had a deal with the county to share in the Powder Mill cost. It didn't.
Supervisors Chairman Wayne Angell said some supervisors talked to town council members about sharing the project's cost, but the matter was never discussed by the entire board.
At the time, the town was holding closed-door discussions about annexing the Virginia 40 East corridor. The county was apprehensive about entering an agreement while the prospect of losing the land to annexation loomed.
The town is now trying to recoup some of its Powder Mill expenses by charging commercial clients such as Wenco a six-figure connection fee.
Wenco had hoped to open the Wendy's about the same time Wal-Mart opened last July. But the restaurant got caught up in the dispute between the town and county.
"It's unfortunate that Wendy's had to resort to legal action against the town," said John Boitnott, the town's attorney. "The town has never told Wendy's it couldn't hook on to sewer, even though the site is in the county and not the town."
The lack of communication between the two governing bodies over the Powder Mill upgrade has had lingering effects. There are several other projects the town and county can't agree on now.
But the county did offer the town a deal recently that would have solved Wendy's problem, sources said. After Wenco and Wal-Mart agreed to chip in $45,000 toward the sewer hook-up fee, the county said it would give the town $80,000 in meals-tax revenue over the next two years to make up the rest of the cost. The money was to be used toward the cost of the Powder Mill project.
The town turned down the deal because the county wouldn't write a check up front.
"A little town like Rocky Mount with 4,000 citizens can't subsidize the 40,000 citizens that live in Franklin County," Councilman Arnold Dillon said.
Legally, the town has no obligation to extend water and sewer services outside its boundaries, even though it has done so in the past, Boitnott said.
More public pressure than ever faces the two governing bodies now. About a dozen people showed up at a supervisors meeting this month to voice concerns about the lack of cooperation on Virginia 40 East, which is the county's hottest growth spot.
Angell said the town and county aren't in a crisis situation - yet.
"We are working toward a long-term solution that will allow us to grow as we need to," he said.
He said there will be a crisis if the county loses a large industry because of the water and sewer problem.
"We need to sit down and talk about this," he said. "Even if we meet and decide we're going to do nothing, then at least that's an outcome."
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