Town’s secrecy gives way to acknowledgement that municipality wants to expand, bring in property for gas station/store
Sheetz, Inc., which has four gas station/convenience stores in the county, is now exploring the possibility of building a fifth on the edge of Swepsonville in the southern part of the county.
The proposed location, on the northeast corner of North Jim Minor Road at NC 54, would represent the farthest from the interstate of any of its Alamance County locations, most of which are either right at, or within a mile of, I-85/40.
Swepsonville’s town council has gone into closed session at the end of four consecutive meetings apparently to discuss this project. According to town administrator Brad Bullis, the town has been engaged in discussions about unspecified “negotiations” that Bullis described in an interview this week as involving “potential economic development incentives” via utility lines.
Swepsonville mayor Henry Carrouth was forthcoming when asked about an upcoming public hearing on annexation and rezoning (to highway business) for two lots on the northeast corner of North Jim Minor Road and NC 54.
“Sheetz wants to build on that corner,” Carrouth acknowledged.
[Main story continues below sidebar about whether town council’s closed meetings were legal.]
Were town council’s closed sessions legal?
The Alamance News protested this week that four meetings conducted behind closed doors by the town council (in July, August, September, and October) were “improper, illegal, and a violation of the North Carolina Open Meetings Law.”
In a letter to Swepsonville town attorney Paul Koonts, Alamance News publisher Tom Boney, Jr. contended that the town had violated state open meetings requirements.
Most notably Boney pointed omissions and irregularities in the council’s motions to go behind closed doors. For instance, the motion to go behind closed doors which cited state law that allows public bodies “to discuss matters relating to the location or expansion of industries or other businesses in the area served by the public body.”
But Boney stressed that the two parcels are not in an area served by the public body. “Indeed, if, as we understand it, much of the discussion at each closed meeting was about ‘extending sewer lines’ to the property, that makes very plain that, by definition, Swepsonville is not currently ‘serving’ that area,” Boney said.
The council’s improper use of that provision constituted the first of two violations of the state’s Open Meetings Law that the publisher cited.
Boney also pointed to a second provision that town officials cited in each of the four motions to go into closed session each month.
In its motion, the council included this proviso, as well: “to establish, or to instruct the public body’s staff or negotiating agents concerning the position to be taken by or on behalf of the public body in negotiating.” But Boney emphasized that the full text of the provision allows public bodies to go behind closed doors stipulates that what’s being negotiated is the “the price and other material terms of a contract or proposed contract for the acquisition of real property by purchase, option, exchange, or lease.
“This didn’t involve any land purchase,” Boney said. “The council can’t just go behind closed doors for unspecified ‘negotiations,’” Boney cautioned.
The 3.08-acre property, which is the combination of two lots, both owned by Dewey A. Brown, Jr. of Graham, will also be the company’s second largest site in the county. Current sizes are: Mebane, 3.41 acres; Graham, 2.35 acres; Alamance Road, which is now undergoing rebuilding, 1.66 acres; and Maple Avenue, 1.53 acres.
Carrouth said the town would be providing sewer service for the proposed gas station, which will require going under NC 54 from the Laurelton subdivision, which is currently the town’s farthest north development.
[Story continues below photos of the properties proposed for annexation and rezoning.]
Did Graham know about Swepsonville’s plans?
Meanwhile, Swepsonville’s proposal to annex and rezone property north of North Jim Minor Road caught Graham officials off guard.
Assistant city manager Aaron Holland told the newspaper this week that it had “sort of been understood that we [Graham] would be [controlling annexations and rezonings] north of Jim Minor Road.”
In fact, when Swepsonville was first incorporated in 1997, there was a 20-year freeze on the new municipality annexing any new areas beyond those already included in what was originally a water district.
But Carrouth and town administrator Bullis both emphasized that such a time limit expired in 2017, and both said Swepsonville was free to grow toward Graham.
Graham and Swepsonville officials differed over whether, how much, or how recently the two municipalities had discussed boundary lines for their respective jurisdictions.
Bullis said Graham officials “are aware” of the smaller town’s interest in annexation in the area, having most recently been discussed with the larger municipality “several months ago.” But Holland said it had been “more than year or so” since the two municipalities discussed having any sort of annexation agreement regarding the area.
Graham has a large municipal park farther out on North Jim Minor Road, as well as several subdivisions – one built out, another pending.
Swepsonville hopes Sheetz project will “kickstart” growth
Bullis said Swepsonville has been discussing the Sheetz project with company officials for “about two years.”
Swepsonville regards the Sheetz project as a potential “kickstart” for growth on the north side of NC 54, the area that had originally been off-limits for the town’s expansion based on the original incorporation provisions.
Bullis acknowledged that the extension of sewer lines across NC 54 to the future Sheetz property could provide an impetus for additional development, including on a 22-acre field on the north side of North Jim Minor Road, that has been frequently rumored as a potential site for a future grocery store.
Bullis said that, since he was first hired five-and-half years ago, there has been speculation about a potential Lowes Foods or Harris Teeter on the field site.
Carrouth said that the town would be providing sewer service, but that Sheetz “would be picking up the bulk of the costs.”
Bullis was reluctant to divulge the potential costs for running sewer lines to the Sheetz site, or the proportionate share that the town versus the company would bear. When pressed, Bullis said, “I suspect a couple hundred thousand dollars” would be the total cost for the project. Apparently much of the closed-door discussion has been about what share of that total cost the town would shoulder. Bullis said 10 percent to 50 percent has been the general range under consideration.
Asked why the town should shoulder any of the costs for a private company, Bullis said that doing so would “open up” potential development on the northern side of NC 54.
The Orange-Alamance Water System has water lines on the north side of Highway 54, which Sheetz is expected to use for water service, Bullis added.
Swepsonville does not currently have a property tax, so annexing the potential Sheetz site, while increasing the “tax base” for the town, doesn’t result in any increased revenue for the municipality.
The Swepsonville town council will conduct a public hearing on November 18 on the potential annexation and rezoning. Bullis said that the economic incentives via the sewer line agreement with Sheetz will also be presented at that public hearing. That meeting is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall at Swepsonville United Methodist Church in downtown Swepsonville.
The hearing has twice been postponed, from proposed dates on September 16 and October 21.
Tenants out
The potential Sheetz project will displace American Aquascapes, a landscaping company specializing in water features, which has been located at the northeast corner of N.C. 54 and North Jim Minor Road for about two decades, having moved to the site from South Church Street in Burlington.
The newspaper was unable to reach the company owner, Michael Wheeley, Jr., but an office worker at the company told the newspaper that there is no proposed “new location,” yet, for where the landscaping company will relocate.
Meanwhile, the residents in the house at 1864 NC 54 have already been moved out.
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