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Local News - November 2003 |
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Park project snags |
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Published November 17, 2003 |
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Equestrian Center By SARAH GRANO, Staff Writer ———————————— CHERRYVILLE — A week before closing on land for an equestrian park, the Piedmont Equestrian Center Authority (PECA) learned that the $600,000 pledged to them by the Cherryville City Council came with restrictions. “If we’re rehashing old turf, I apologize, but we’re going to rehash it,” said Wade Stroupe, mayor of Cherryville, at a City Council meeting. “We want to stamp our commitment as a city to you, but we want to clarify what we’ve talked about up to this point.” The Cherryville City Council and PECA have been working together for two years to create an equestrian park in Lincolnton. The city of Cherryville has pledged $300,000 to PECA to go toward the purchase of land and $300,000 to go toward the extension of water, sewer and electric utilities to serve the equestrian park. Participants in the project hope that the park will bring much needed jobs and money to Cherryville. Already, the equestrian park has 50 weekends booked. They are scheduled to buy their land on Nov. 17. Joe Cox, a member of PECA, felt the city and his organization had already legally taken care of many of the issues brought up at the November Cherryville City Council Meeting. He also found that many of the city’s requests were new. “Agreeing to pay the city on an annual basis, this isn’t something we’ve ever talked about,” Cox said. “If this needed to be a stipulation, it should have been a stipulation two years ago.” Originally, the $300,000 the city had pledged to the purchase of land for the park was to be paid over the course of eight years. Now, the money is needed immediately. After a meeting to discuss the new requests, PECA agreed to pay the city $47,000 over the course of three years. “That was a big sticking point,” Stroupe said. “I think it worked out to everyone’s satisfaction.” The $47,000 will make up for the loss of interest the city will have due to taking out the $300,000 in one lump sum. “There are things involved in the accelerated schedule that weren’t anticipated four months ago,” Stroupe said. PECA has raised over $1 million to go along with the money from the city. ————— Staff Writer Sarah Grano can be reached at 704-735-3031 or sgrano@ltnews.com ——–———————
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