DECATUR — City council members voted to approve construction plans for a new church facility on North Main Street, at Monday’s meeting.

The Decatur Assembly of God is planning to build a 25,000-square-foot youth facility across the road from its existing church as the first phase of their Moving Forward in Faith Construction Project. If weather permitted, dirt work was set to begin Tuesday morning.

Councilman Trip Lapham, also the planning and zoningcommittee chairman, told the council his committee reviewed the plans at its June 3 meeting, and recommended them for approval by the council.

“It looks like it’s well done, and who wouldn’t want a nice new church in their community,” Lapham said.

Steve Clark, of Clark Consulting and Civil Engineering, attended the meeting to answer the council member's questions. He spread drawings on the table, and he explained details such as the rainwater drainage system for the property and the sprinkler system inside the buildings.

The second phase of construction will include an approximately 30,000-square-foot sanctuary that will seat about 600 people, Clark said. It also includes plans for additional parking and several baseball fields. No date has been set for the second phase of construction, he said.

In other business, council members discussed the possibility of extending the city’s water line one mile to the Spring Valley Rod and Gun Club.

Ed Smith, of Tulsa, appeared before the council last month to request that city water lines be extended to the private fishing club on Spavinaw Creek in the Rootville area. Smith said hisgrandson, Adam Maris owns the club. The club is in need of city water to gain a contract with the Department of Defense offering a retreat for the rehabilitation of disabled veterans, Smith said.

City utilities director James Boston said the club offered the city $25,000 to use towards extending the water line to the property. Boston estimated that it would cost $50,000 to $60,000 to extend the water line over the mile of rough ground. The primary reason for the high cost is that the line would have to be bored under the highway in three places to avoid steep ravines, Boston explained. There areonly three other residents along the route that might want to connect their homes to the city water line.

An advantage to the line is that it would bring the city a step closer to connecting to the water line on Falling Springs Road and creating a loop that would improve water pressure for customers along the line, Boston said. The water line would have to be extended another mile past the rod and gun club to reach the line on Falling Springs Road, he said.

“That is $25,000 that might not ever come back towards that wa-ter line,” Boston said.

“I would like to know if those people would actually want to hook on,” city administrative assistant Kim Wilkens said.

Mayor Bill Montgomery pointed out that there is a water line south of town that has been in need of repair for some time, and that Jeff Broadstone and his neighbors have requested a city water line in their area.

“To me this just isn’t a priority... The $25,000 is nice, but I just can’t see myself putting $25,000 to $35,000 down to pick up one party at the end of the line,” Montgomery said.

“We’ll just have to tell them we’ve got projects ahead of this that are more pressing,” he said.

News, Pages 1 on 06/16/2010