Lawsuit possible over water line

The City of Rockdale may be facing a lawsuit from a local church over a water line it replaced last year linking downtown to its water plant.

Meeting Monday at City Hall, the council also terminated its agreement with Peri Olefins, a highly-anticipated plastics business which had planned to locate in the industrial park.

SUIT—Attorney Kirby King addressed the council on behalf of his client, Igelsia Cristiana Rey de Reyes (King of Kings Christian Church), 234 Mill.

King requested placement on a future agenda and said he was addressing the council as a requirement for filing legislation on a claim of “unlawful oppression” by the city.

He maintained the city “had no right to put the water line” in the location on the church’s property and did not appropriately consult the church over the project.

“They would have said ‘put it on the side, not in the middle’,” King said.

He maintained there was an assumption a former railroad crossing at the location was a dedicated street. “But just because people were using it did not make it a city street,” he said.

The Scarbrough/Hickory Street crossing was in use for many years but was closed by the Union Pacific Railroad as part of a general railroad safety project.

City Manager Chris Whittaker said he could not comment on any proposed lawsuit, but said the city did not put down a new water line but replaced one in its existing position.

He said the city charter states anyone planning a lawsuit against the city must give notice. “That’s why Mr. King appeared before the council Monday night,” Whittaker said.

Whittaker said, as of Tuesday morning, the city had not been served with the lawsuit.

PERI OLEFINS—In a series of votes, the council voted unanimously to end its relationship with the proposed plastics plant and to pull out of a $750,000 state grant which would have helped construct it.

Owner Haresh Satchithanandan signed a contract with the city to bring the business to the industrial park, but has missed deadlines set by the Municipal Development District (MDD) in connection with plans to construct the building.

For the past two months the MDD has taken no action on issuing $611,000 in municipal sales and use tax bonds for the project.

After the MDD’s January meeting, Executive Director Kara Clore said the next step would be up to the city.

Satchithanandan had said Peri Olefins would bring 30 jobs to Rockdale over a three-year period and forecast Rockdale could become a “hub” for the industry.

Infrastructure work at the park. Just north of the city limits on FM 487, has already begun.

A water line has been installed and roads are planned.

Clore said the infrastructure work will be finished, as it serves the entire park, not just the planned plastics plant.

In other business the council received an update on progress of the new police station, applied for a $300,000 Post Oak Savannah Groundwater Conservation District grant and accepted an audit report.