Housing plans in Salemburg come to a halt

Potential for new housing development for the town of Salemburg was recently brought to a halt after town officials couldn’t reach an agreement with a prospective investor.

Turner Matthews and Joey Tart came before the town board to present their interest in purchasing lots located on Church Street, with the desire to construct new homes.

“We’ve been in the process of looking for some lots to build some single family, more affordable homes,” Matthews said. “We have found some that we have some interest in that are for sale right down the road, and we immediately found a few questions on a few issues.

“I was trying to see what would be allowed here to do in the town,” he added. “If you see the old map of the town, from October 1966, you can see where there’s a lot one, on the Church Street property and then in the back of it is lots four, five and six, and a property to the left of lot one, we’re interested in those.”

While Matthews said there was much vested interest, they hit a snag due to an easement that ran through some of the property.

“As we look at the map, you can see there’s like a 30-foot easement between lot one and lot two to access lots four, five and six,” Matthews said. “We have talked with the county, and I was able to talk with Miss Theresa (Smith, town clerk), and she shared with me that, that is, for sure, not a town road.

“So my question would be, obviously, if we had to extend water services and sewer services all the way down that private road to get into lot four, five and six, it would cost a tremendous amount,” he added. “And so, my question would be, and again, we haven’t bought these yet, but we’re interested in them. But, would it be allowable, on that 30-foot easement, to put the services on the Church Street?”

Matthews continued to voice concerns, requesting that the board provide water and sewer or provide extended water main lines to homes they would build.

“Would all of you provide a water and sewer tap for lot four, five and six that would be at Church Street in that 30-foot easement?” he asked. “Perhaps we could use 15 for a vehicle, and then on the left and right side, use 5,6 or 7 feet, whatever it would take, for those services to be installed there. Then it could just be plumbed to the individual houses as services.

“So that’s my other main question,” he added. “Do those utilities have to be extended or would you all allow the services to be put on Church Street, so we could just plumb them in to the lot, four, five and six dwellings?”

Before the board got into discussions, Smith did lay out a caveat she said was worth the board knowing.

“Just for the sake of argument, Clay (Knowles, public works) was here the other day when we were discussing this,” Smith said. “And so, doing what he’s requesting would have the taps and stuff being at the road, like the sewer tank, it would be in their yard. And then, it would be our responsibility to maintain the line from the back side of the tank all the way to the road. That is our responsibility, if it’s allowed, and the town has to pay for the line coming in forever, just wanted to make you aware of that.”

“I would be, for sure, willing to discuss sharing the cost of that and looking into a ways that are cheaper than having to extend the water mainlines,” Matthews added.

Dialogue continued afterwards with both sides bouncing ideas around on how to handle the water and sewer request Matthews posed questions on. During those talks an inquire about the ownership of private road, which was listed as a right of way, came forward. Smith, however, said a record to answer that question couldn’t be found.

“I have no idea, we’ve look at all the deeds and it’s not on either of the deeds,” she said.

Discussions came to a close soon after following the arrival of Public Works Director Scott Owens. He answered the most recurring question on the need for waterline extension — his reply, yes.

“You need to be extended down the road,” Owens said. “I’m not going to say we couldn’t do it another way possibly, but then you get into a whole lot of the stuff that we don’t want to be involved in. We always extend the mains and avoid creating problems we’ve had in the past. That’s been the better plan for us, which means it has to be engineered then signed off by the state, and that would be at the developer’s expense.”

“That answered that and we’re talking about some mega bucks, which is probably why it’s still for sale,” Matthews said. “I don’t think that’s gonna work.”

“Well we still appreciate you for coming and wish you luck going forward because we would love to see some new houses go up in Salemburg,” Mayor Joe Warren said.