Swepsonville’s town council is scheduled to hold a public hearing at its next meeting Tuesday night
on an annexation petition and rezoning request that would allow Sheetz, Inc. to build its fifth gas station/convenience store in the county.
Sheetz is seeking rezoning to highway business for two lots on the northeast corner of North Jim Minor Road and N.C. Highway 54.
The 3.08-acre site, which is the combination of two lots currently owned by Dewey A. Brown, Jr. of Graham, would be the company’s second-largest site in Alamance County, behind Mebane (3.41 acres) and Graham (2.35 acres), as well as two smaller sites in Burlington.
The town would provide sewer service for the proposed Sheetz in Swepsonville, which will require going under N.C. 54 from the Laurelton subdivision, mayor Henry Carrouth has confirmed for The Alamance News.
Sheetz is also requesting to have the future gas station property annexed into Swepsonville.
During a recent visit to the site, it was mentioned that, while Sheetz had the option to leave the property within the county’s jurisdiction – thus eliminating the need to meet zoning requirements – representatives from the company said they wanted to help kickstart growth along N.C. Highway 54.
Graham officials recently said that they’d been caught off guard by Swepsonville’s proposal to annex property north of Jim Minor Road. Assistant city manager Aaron Holland told the newspaper last week that “sort of been understood that we [Graham] would be [controlling annexations and rezonings] north of Jim Minor Road.”
But Carrouth and Swepsonville town administrator Brad Bullis counter that a 20-year freeze on annexation of areas beyond the boundaries put in place when the town was incorporated in 1997 have since expired, leaving the town free to grow toward Graham.
For his part, Holland recalled that it had been a year or more since the two municipalities had discussed any future extension of the boundary lines for their respective jurisdictions.
Bullis and other Swepsonville town officials say they hope that the extension of sewer lines across N.C. 54 to the future Sheetz gas station could spur additional economic development.
As such, Swepsonville’s town council is considering a cost-sharing agreement with Sheetz.
The cost-sharing agreement “will serve the greater area east of [Highway] 54 and will be recouped with potential system development fees,” Swepsonville town attorney F. Paul Koonts elaborated Tuesday, in a written response to a public records request by The Alamance News.
“This cost contribution is 25% of what it would have cost for Swepsonville to complete the project on its own and is not an incentive to Sheetz who could have completed their project without sewer from the Town of Swepsonville,” the attorney insisted.
Koontz also recalled in his response to the newspaper that the town had previously hired the Alley, Williams, Carmen & King engineering firm to develop cost estimates for “extending sewer and/or water service” across N.C. Highway 54.
Bullis, however, had told the newspaper last week that the economic incentives for Sheetz – i.e., the cost-sharing agreement for the sewer line extension – would be presented at the public hearing on Tuesday, November 18. The town administrator said that sharing the cost to extend sewer service to the property would open up potential development on the northern side of N.C. Highway 54.
The company’s share of the cost to extend the sewer line to the future Sheetz site is estimated at $427,596, according to a copy of the proposed cost-sharing agreement that Swepsonville’s attorney provided in response to the newspaper’s public records request.
In exchange, the town would reimburse Sheetz $100,000 for “a portion of said construction and installation costs” for the sewer line extension, according to the proposed agreement.
The developer would be required to submit for approval a public sewer improvement plan by December 31, 2025, under the terms of the proposed cost-sharing agreement with Swepsonville. Construction of the sewer line extension would begin by January 1, 2027 and would be completed by December 31, 2027.
Swepsonville’s town council is scheduled to hold its next meeting and public hearing at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 18, in the Fellowship Hall at Swepsonville United Methodist Church at 1307 East Main Street, Graham.
See related Swepsonville stories on whether closed meetings were appropriate – newspaper’s publisher and town attorney differ: https://alamancenews.com/swepsonville-attorney-newspaper-publisher-differ-on-legality-of-town-councils-closed-meetings/
Another reason for recent closed meetings (though not originally revealed): town council looking at properties next to town’s ballpark: https://alamancenews.com/swepsonville-looking-at-buying-property-to-renovate-and-expand-100-year-old-ballpark/
Read the newspaper’s editorial page views on whether town council followed proper, statutory provisions of Open Meetings Law: https://alamancenews.com/yeah-its-only-swepsonville-but-small-towns-have-to-obey-the-law-too/
