Chesapeake Church Gets a Reprieve From Utility Over Gas Line

By Janette Rodrigues, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Apr. 13–CHESAPEAKE — A Richmond utility company has backed away from plans to condemn a historic Sunray church’s property to make way for a natural gas line expansion project.

Columbia Gas of Virginia and the city recently reached an agreement to build the gas line down East Road instead of through the grounds of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, several residential yards and farmland off Homestead Road.

“We are pleased with it as far as the church is concerned,” Bruce McDaniel, a church official and Sunray resident, said Thursday.

A Columbia Gas spokeswoman said Thursday evening she did not have any information about the agreement. Last year, the company threatened to forcibly buy a 30-foot easement from St. Mary’s that would have put the pipeline within feet of the church door and sanctuary.

A public utility company can force a property owner to sell land for a public purpose.

Sunray is a historic farming community between Bowers Hill and Western Branch. The church was founded in 1916.

The utility is extending the Bowers Hill loop pipeline to meet a growing demand for services in Chesapeake, Suffolk and Portsmouth.

Many Sunray residents opposed where the company wanted to put the lines, and many property owners were threatened with condemnation.

Chesapeake officials became involved after Sunray residents pointed out that the project hadn’t been reviewed by the city Planning Commission.

The city isn’t requiring this phase of the proposed project to be reviewed by the Planning Commission. The city also can’t make Columbia Gas move the pipeline for 20 years.

— Reach Janette Rodrigues at (757) 222-5208 or janette.rodrigues@pilotonline.com.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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