$8 million Southpass project faces more delays because of costs
Second multi-million dollar project causes concern for Fayetteville budget
Taniah Tudor
Issue date: 1/12/09 Section: News
Even as a southern Fayetteville development is ready to move forward, environmental and economical concerns may delay the project, Mayor-elect Lioneld Jordan said.
Though the City Council recently passed the last official obstacle to the Southpass development project, which was a 50-50 cost share on sewer infrastructure, the city has yet to pass a cost share with the developers on the street infrastructure, Jordan said.
The roads are estimated to cost $8 million, and if the city does not cost share with the developers, the developers will have to come up with the money themselves, Jordan said.
The development project is fully funded, said Richard Alexander, a partner of the developers Southpass, LLC, though it is unclear whether this funding includes the $8 million.
Alexander's company answered a request from the city for proposals of development projects, and Alexander is not sure why the project is seeing opposition from the City Council as it was basically the council's project, he said.
"I was perplexed by [the opposition]; I still don't understand it," Alexander said. "I think it became a campaigning issue."
Alexander does not think the opposition is anywhere near a majority, he said.
Jordan is not exactly concerned about the Southpass project, he said. His primary concern is for the amount of money the project and the subsequent Regional Park, which is attached to the project, is going to cost the city in tight economic times, Jordan said.
The Regional Park is estimated to cost the city more than $26 million during the next 25 years, according to Fayetteville Parks and Recreation. Though Connie Edmonston, the director of Parks and Recreation, has said that most of this money will come from fundraising and donations, this has not really worked out for the city in the past, Jordan said.
"I hate to put the city under an obligation contingent on the ability to fundraise," Jordan said.
Though the City Council recently passed the last official obstacle to the Southpass development project, which was a 50-50 cost share on sewer infrastructure, the city has yet to pass a cost share with the developers on the street infrastructure, Jordan said.
The roads are estimated to cost $8 million, and if the city does not cost share with the developers, the developers will have to come up with the money themselves, Jordan said.
The development project is fully funded, said Richard Alexander, a partner of the developers Southpass, LLC, though it is unclear whether this funding includes the $8 million.
Alexander's company answered a request from the city for proposals of development projects, and Alexander is not sure why the project is seeing opposition from the City Council as it was basically the council's project, he said.
"I was perplexed by [the opposition]; I still don't understand it," Alexander said. "I think it became a campaigning issue."
Alexander does not think the opposition is anywhere near a majority, he said.
Jordan is not exactly concerned about the Southpass project, he said. His primary concern is for the amount of money the project and the subsequent Regional Park, which is attached to the project, is going to cost the city in tight economic times, Jordan said.
The Regional Park is estimated to cost the city more than $26 million during the next 25 years, according to Fayetteville Parks and Recreation. Though Connie Edmonston, the director of Parks and Recreation, has said that most of this money will come from fundraising and donations, this has not really worked out for the city in the past, Jordan said.
"I hate to put the city under an obligation contingent on the ability to fundraise," Jordan said.
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