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Statesville sets eyes on land to supply dirt for future projects

Jim McNally | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | Nov. 22, 2007

For about the past six months, members of the Statesville City Council have gone into what is called “executive session” after many regular meetings and even a few pre-agenda gatherings.

North Carolina’s rules on the nature of discussions held by governing bodies behind the closed doors of executive sessions include one on negotiations related to the purchase of “real property.”

That term, of course, means land.

Or, as Statesville City Manager Rob Hites referred to this particular piece of property, “black gold.”

Statesville leaders are in the early stages of purchasing the property, not as the site of future city buildings or as a park or playground or any other public facility, but as kind of mine to supply dirt for future projects at the city’s airport.

At Monday’s regular meeting, the council approved the first cash transaction when members unanimously voted to pass a budget amendment for $3,000 to be used as earnest money and an option fee on the 46.7-acre tract on Old Airport Road near Buffalo Shoals Road.

If the land passes an environmental test and clears other due diligence hurdles in the next month or so, the city plans to purchase it for about $795,000.

Hites said about 3½ million cubic yards of earth will be needed over the next 20 years to level off ground at the airport for more and stronger runways and taxiways as well as additional hangars and other buildings.

“And all that dirt has to come from somewhere,” Hites said.

He said most of the costs associated with fill-dirt derives from moving it from its natural place to the job site.

“The less it has to be moved, the less expensive it ends up costing,” Hites said.

The city learned that lesson several years ago and, in 2005, it inspired city leaders to purchase a 75-acre parcel of land - referred to as the McIntosh Farm property - that actually abuts the airport.

The cost for that property was $2.6 million.

Hites said the city has “harvested” that tract for the past two years, but leaders learned they were going to need more land soon.

Even with the costs of the McIntosh Farm land and the land at Old Airport Road - which will top $3.4 million if the Old Airport Road parcel is purchased for the agreed-upon price - city leaders say the investment is a bargain in the long run.

“We’ll save millions,” Councilman Michael Johnson said after Monday’s meeting.

Mayor Costi Kutteh said he did not know how common it was for a governing body to purchase land for the sole purpose of mining dirt from it but was satisfied the land purchase is a fiscally prudent move.

“I’m sure developers do it all over the country,” Kutteh said. “There is only a certain amount of dirt, and you have to have a place to get it. But I don’t know of any other municipality that has done it.”

He likened the land to a house builder who had a large supply of doors and windows.

“He doesn’t have to use all of them tomorrow, but he has them when he needs them,” Kutteh said. “That’s the same thing here.”

Hites said according to estimates, the city can reduce the cost of each cubic yard of dirt by as much as $5 by having the supply on hand.

“And when you are talking about more than 3 million cubic yards being needed, that adds up,” Hites said.

The new land would add to a cache of real estate owned by the city that is almost impossible to calculate, according to Lisa Salmon, the city’s finance director.

“When you start adding up the right-of-way easements and the different parcels and city buildings, it would take a while to figure it all out,” Salmon said.

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