Historical marker is seen in front of Pell City City Hall, where the city council met in chambers for their regular work session and council meeting.  Photo by Ellen Sowa.

Dale Skelton, a representative from First Baptist Church of Pell City, spoke to Pell City City Council at the Dec. 18 meeting.

The church purchased property that was formerly owned by Kilgroe Funeral Home. They demolished the home that was located on the property after trying to research avenues of moving the structure. The property will be an additional parking lot for the First Baptist location. 

During the course of clearing the property and digging debris, a 50 foot section of 18 inch cement drainage pipe was damaged. First Baptist Church has pledged to repair the damaged portion of the pipe at a cost of $2000. 

They were advised by their engineering firm that the existing pipes should be upgraded to 24 inches throughout to prevent problems in the future. The total length of the section of pipe would be 176 feet, adding an additional $15,000 to $20,000 for the total cost of replacement.

“First Baptist will include the replacement cost as a bid,” said Skelton. “We will pay $2000 toward the cost and will pay an additional amount toward that.” 

Skelton presented the issue to Pell City council members, asking that the additional replacement cost be covered by the city.

“”I don’t see a downside to upgrading,” said City Manager Brian Muenger. “But the property may be developed at some point in the future. It may be acceptable to the church to have drainage pipes under a parking lot, but there may be future development. We can’t attest to how the pipe was installed and there are not alternate pipes to tie in to. It is not best practice to have storm drains under structures.”

The previous structure on the property was constructed in the 1950s. According to Pell City Attorney John Rea, there is no deeded easement but since the structure was in place over 20 years, there is a prescripted easement on the drainage. Rea recommended that a written drainage easement be included to document for the future. 

“You would not be able to build on the property,” said Rea. “The agreement would have to change and the drainage would need to be redirected.”

The city approved the improvements for an estimated cost of $15,000 to $20,000 total to upgrade to the 24 inch storm water drainage pipe. First Baptist Church of Pell City would cover a portion of those costs. They are expecting the renovations to be completed by April 2019, but they will have to revisit the construction timeline based on the new renovations.