News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Cookeville City Council approved an agreement Thursday to bury power lines adjacent to Stephens Street Baptist Church.
The church will pay the city $16,000 and deed land to the city for future road improvements. City Manager James Mills said the agreement makes sense because improvements to the Stevens Street/Willow Avenue intersection have been a long-time priority for the city.
“Those improvements will require the acquisition of right-of-way and most likely when we do those improvements, we would put those utilities underground at that time,” Mills said.
The church is in the middle of changes to its campus and requested the city either move the power lines across the street or bury them. Mills said it makes more sense to do the work now even through the street project may not be scheduled for several years.
“I believe it would be prudent to go ahead and address the power lines while the church is completing their construction project,” Mills said. “It really does not make sense to let them finish and have their parking lot paved, and then us go dig this up in a few years.”
City estimates show moving the lines would cost $16,000 while burying them would be a $46,000 expenditure. The agreement with the church calls for the city to complete the project within six months.
