The Town of Valdese is ponying up dollars for coordinated efforts to push back against Charlotte’s request to double its take from the Catawba River Basin.
The Western Piedmont Council of Governments is coordinating a strategy to deny Charlotte Water’s request to increase its water draw from 33 million gallons per day (MGD) to 63 MGD. Valdese and nearly every other Burke town and city has passed resolutions opposing the water grab.
Moved to the upcoming consent agenda, this will come in the form as a budget amendment labeled as “Interbasin Transer Cost Sharing,” along with consideration of the plan itself.
Weichel reported that the total budget for the plan is $418,000 with Valdese responsible for $12,383. Their share for 2024 will be around $6,900 and approximately $5,400 for 2025.
Valdese leadership believes granting Charlotte’s request would hamper the town’s economic development, dry out growth opportunity, and water supply and growth opportunities along with impacts to the water quality.
“They’re hurting all the other communities around them. There’s other ways; it’s going to cost them some money, but there’s other ways to do this,” Weichel said. “That’s what we’re trying to do is to force their hand into spending a little bit of money on their end and doing it the right way instead of hurting everybody else around them.”
Charlotte Water is required by law to do an environmental impact statement. The Environmental Management Commission will host a public hearing to discuss the impact statement after it is submitted in 2026.
The statement will include comments from previous public meetings when Burke County residents, along with Mayor Charlie Watts and Councilman Gary Ogle, voiced their opposition to Charlotte’s request.
“There were around 430 folks present from the public that spoke against this project. The only people who spoke for it were the people on stage from Charlotte,” Watts said about the last public meeting on July 15.
Ogle said, “I don’t think there’s going to be much information given by Charlotte. I think they want this and if we don’t want it, I think we’ve to provide something (a plan) to fight it.”
VALDESE BLUFFS AND EASEMENTS
Planning and Zoning Director Larry Johnson presented five easements needed to construct more than 140 single-family homes in the new Valdese Bluffs project. He asked the council to accept the easements and to move it to the consent agenda.
The project will cross the following properties and requires certain access:
- Permanent utility and access easements: Burke County Public Schools, Burke County, and Natural Land Alliance, Inc.
- Temporary access easement: Burke County Public Schools and The Nicholson’s
“These five easements are related to providing water and sewer to a site just east of the high school for a potential housing project,” Johnson said. “We received funding a couple years ago, we need to go ahead and move forward with the installation of the infrastructure.”
OTHER NEWS
The Efficiency Task Force returned with its advisory opinion regarding three Public Works capital improvement items removed from the budget: a tractor ($60,000), a Ford F-150 ($45,000), and a roll-off dumpster ($6,000).
Based on insight from Public Works Director Allen Hudson, chairman Eddie Perrou advised that the town purchase the roll-off dumpster and wait until next year to buy the tractor and the Ford F-150.
The next regular monthly meeting is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 5, at 6 p.m. at Town Hall, 102 Massel Ave. SW.
Saydie Bean is a municipal and courts reporter for The Paper. She may be reached at 828-445-8595, ext. 2011, or saydie@thepaper.media.