SALISBURY — The Tri-County Council (TCC) is petitioning to have its multi-purpose building annexed into the city of Salisbury, a prospect that the City Council is willing to explore further.
The annexation would mean access to city water and sewer needed for Shore Transit and the council would also like to see the annexation discussion extended to neighboring properties.
The TCC building is located on 31901 Tri-County Way off Walston Switch Road and serves as a general meeting place for Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset County programs and leadership.
“The 27.6-acre site is located at the northwest quadrant of the U.S. Route 50 and Walston Switch Road intersection and was the former site of Filtronic/Comtek/Powerwave,” wrote Bill Holland, director of Building, Permits and Inspections for the city. “This request does not contain a concept development plan because the site is developed with a two-story building consisting of 74,000 sq. ft. of office space, as well as a 12,000 sq. ft. maintenance facility for Shore Transit’s fleet.”
TCC is looking to enter the fold with Salisbury to take advantage of city water and sewer services, which will be used mainly for Shore Transit purposes including a bus wash. The organization is willing to improve existing infrastructure to better accommodate water and sewer, which the council agreed would be a benefit for any future expansion.
The only question regarding water and sewer was how usage would be tracked.
“’Guesstimations’ obviously don’t work for everybody. They’re in one person’s favor or the other and usually not both at the same time,” said Councilwoman Laura Mitchell.
A meter could be installed though Mitchell wanted it clear that Public Works would be the owner of the meter. Overall, the council was comfortable with the situation, though, especially since TCC anticipates that between 70 and 80 percent of the water used for the Shore Transit bus wash should be recycled and not clog up sewer services.
The council was open to letting TCC formalize an annexation draft and return for another work session but Mitchell asked that an effort also be made to contact neighboring properties.
“We can’t make them come in but we can certainly let them know what’s happening at an early enough stage that if there was interest they could follow up,” she said.
If enough joined, water and sewer services could form a loop instead of just a dead end, she said.