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The long-awaited Great Wagon Road project, which has been in the plans for downtown Lewisville for years, avoided a potential pothole in the town council’s October meeting before the ultimate passing of a three-way $6.2 million utility agreement with the city of Winston-Salem and the N.C. Department of Transportation.

In fact, the first part in a two-step process — amending the Great Wagon Road improvements Capital Project Ordinance for that amount — was rejected in a 4-3 vote where concerns were raised over depleting the General Fund Reserve, which currently stands at $7.2 million.

However, after learning there were other possible funding sources that could be utilized, the council opted to reconsider, approving both the ordinance and resolution of the utility agreement unanimously. 

After that initial vote, Mayor Mike Horn, who voted in favor along with council members Ivan Huffman and Julia Puckett, said, “I just want to be clear that by not passing that motion, we stop the Great Wagon Road project. What potentially that means is that money will be pulled from the Great Wagon Road out of DOT and applied to another project.”

Council member Ken Sadler then asked if putting water and sewer lines down the Great Wagon Road was a requirement for building it.

Town Manager Stacy Tolbert responded that “the Great Wagon Road project would continue. We just would not have water and sewer lines in there for anyone to hook on.”

Horn replied, “So we’ll have a road that can’t support the capacity that could be built along it.”

He then added, “The Comprehensive Plan talks about concentrating downtown and the downtown area in all of our development. In order to do that, we need to have water and sewer. The installation of that water and sewer most efficiently can be done at the same time that we build the Great Wagon Road. 

“We don’t want to come back in the future and tear up the Great Wagon Road to put water and sewer in. Then we have to come back and purchase additional right of way. What we’ve been planning for the last 20 years is to have the GWR to support downtown development. If we wait on water and sewer, it’s going to cost us more.”

As conversations continued for about an hour in a meeting that lasted nearly three hours, other council members joined in when it was mentioned other funding choices could be considered besides just pulling the money out of the general fund.

“It was that concern that we have worked for over 30 years to have a healthy general fund, and it was just that amount of money and how that was going to be depleted,” council member Jane Welch said, agreeing with what Sadler also stated, “but having more information about where we could move monies from other allocated areas, that makes a difference.”

Mayor Pro Tem Melissa Hunt pushed for finding common ground after the rejection in the first vote when more information was shared.

“If we’re talking about prioritization, is it instead of us approving an ordinance where we’re taking it out of the general fund, could we modify the motion to pull the excess out of the funds that we currently have?” Hunt asked before the resolution. “I’m just trying to find a collaborative area here.”

Tolbert offered more insight and what was involved in all of the process from her perspective.

“A ticket price of $6,217,453.72 is a very large number to pull from the general fund,” Tolbert said. “Staff explained to them the current sewer reserve amount is enough to cover the cost of the water and sewer lines to be constructed within the new road. The shortfall comes in to play when you add the cost of the planned Lewisville Sewer Lift Station, which will serve those new lines.

“The town has always had a very healthy fund balance, and council intends to keep it that way. Over the next few years while the project is under construction, reserves will continue to grow, funding for other projects could be looked at for monies as well as other possibilities.”  

Tolbert said that the next step in the process is for the let date to go out for bids for contractors in February 2025.

In other business, the council voted to go to four-year staggered terms and to direct staff to draft a resolution of intent that will be before them in the December meeting.

“At this point they plan to have it on the ballot as a referendum in November 2025 for the people to vote on whether or not the town should go to staggered terms,” Tolbert said. “It is 

just to move forward with the intent to go forward with staggered terms, but the intent is that they will put it that as a referendum on the ballot.”

In other highlights from the meeting, the council:

• Had three public hearings for the proposed golf driving range on Shallowford Road and voted to allow golf driving ranges in the same zoning district as golf courses with some additional regulations for buffering around the property, lighting requirements and setbacks, along with approving a zoning change from Forsyth County RS-40 to Town of Lewisville RS-40 and annexation to extend the corporate limits of Lewisville to include 7825 Shallowford Road.
• Approved an amendment with Kimley-Horn for the Lewisville-Vienna Road and Robinhood Road roundabout project in the amount of $33,066 for the preparation of utility relocation plans and the utility relocation agreement with Duke Energy for the same project in the amount of $280,637.
• Approved a new three-year contract with Spectrum for voice and internet service in the amount of $91,440.
• Approved an ordinance to hire a consultant to conduct a classification and compensation study for the town staff in the amount of $9,200.