MORGANTOWN — The months-long saga of the White Park water line appears to be over.
The end result of more than a month of contentious negotiations — conducted at least partially through the media — is MUB will use a slightly altered version of Route 3, the route that was agreed upon before negotiations began.
Further, Morgantown Utility Board Spokesman Chris Dale explained, the city backed off the requirements cited by MUB as deal breakers during negotiations.
Morgantown Communications Manager Andrew Stacy laid out the major requirements. The stipulations are largely in line with what MUB agreed to verbally prior to the start of negotiations, including:
- MUB will have to build a new trail through the park, including two water crossings, that will create a loop on the south side of the existing Cobun Creek Reservoir extending to the end of the property, near Don Knotts Boulevard.
- MUB will have to provide $3,000 per trail mile, per year in maintenance fees.
- MUB will have to plant two trees for every tree removed during construction of the line.
Dale spread news of the breakthrough in a Friday afternoon press release.
“Morgantown Utility Board and the City of Morgantown have reached an agreement on the terms of constructing the raw waterline through a portion of White Park,” Dale explained. “The licensing agreement, which was sent to MUB Wednesday evening, specifies that a path known as Route 3 be used along with a series of stipulations and requirements.”
The Morgantown Utility Board previously set Nov. 1 as the cutoff for negotiations with the city of Morgantown and BOPARC over a 30-inch water line the utility planned to run through White Park.
The line will connect MUB’s new Flegal Reservoir under construction along Cobun Creek, with its treatment facility, located off Don Knotts Boulevard.
Conversation, debate and negotiations over what route that line should take began in April, when public backlash forced MUB to halt work on its original path through the park due to the impact it would have on the public space and hundreds of its mature trees.
After months of discourse that included numerous public meetings, MUB, Morgantown City Council and BOPARC all voted to approve an alternate route — Route 3 — through the park and laid out a number of agreed upon concessions that MUB would need to make to be granted access.
In early September, the parties began putting those concessions in writing in the form of a licensing agreement.
But negotiations quickly stalled.
Frustrated over a lack of progress and what it viewed as unreasonable demands, MUB went public on Oct. 14, stating it was no longer interested in a route through White Park and planned to stop negotiating on Nov. 1.
With the deadline looming, Dale indicated Friday morning that the parties were close to a deal. Hours later, news of the agreement was shared by MUB.
Dale told The Dominion Post that the Route 3 in the finalized agreement is “essentially the same Route 3” that was agreed to during public comment.
Dale also explained that the issues cited by MUB as deal breakers during the negotiations were resolved. Those included:
- Language allowing the city to order the proposed $3 million pipeline be removed at any time, for any reason, at MUB’s expense.
- Language calling for the payment of replacement value of trees estimated at more than $1 million in addition to MUB’s pledge to plant two trees for every one removed during pipeline construction.
- Language demanding that MUB not just allow, but build at its expense, recreational features at the new Flegal Reservoir.
“There are no new stipulations and requirements, only a few clarifications from previous versions,” Dale explained.
The agreement must now be approved by both Morgantown City Council and MUB’s Board of Directors. MUB’s board is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday in City Council Chambers. The licensing agreement is on the agenda for consideration.
Morgantown City County meets the following evening. The finalized agreement is part of the council agenda packet, to be available on the city’s website, morgantownwv.gov.
Additional information on the raw water line is available at mub.org/waterline.
