CRESTVIEW — Beach Community Bank has granted easements necessary to build a larger sewer line that serves development north of Interstate 10.
The City Council on Monday unanimously voted to allow the $505,000 project to proceed.
Special staff attorney Scott Shirley and Crestview Public Works Director Wayne Steele briefed the council on the bank's unexpected decision during the council's regular meeting.
Steele's department — prior to hearing from the bank Dec. 5 — was preparing data for the council on installing a 12-inch line through a process called "pipe-bursting." The current 8-inch pipe would have been destroyed in place.
A partnership — which the city, Beach Community Bank and D.R. Horton developers signed in January 2012 — would have permitted construction of a 15-inch sewer line the city otherwise could not afford.
The larger line, originally agreed to in a special utility services agreement, would facilitate additional development in the area between the Lowe's east to Shoal River Middle and Riverside Elementary schools.
The bank requested that the city be flexible in where the line is placed on its property north and east of Lowe's — which has been considered for a shopping mall — to accommodate a future developer's needs, Shirley said.
The bank also conveyed the property to Crestview Crossing Power Center — a limited liability corporation of which the bank is the sole owner — and requested the revised agreement include the new company's name.
The bank still seeks a buyer to develop a shopping center on the site after a previous mall developer pulled out of the project.
Steele will send the new sewer line project out for bid. He said construction would take about 120 days with completion possible by May or June 2014.
Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Bank grants easements to move sewer project forward