The Charlotte City Council voted 5-to-1 Monday, Dec. 8 to enter into a purchase agreement to acquire the former National Guard Armory located on south Cochran. Pending some further investigation, which includes an additional asbestos inspection, the City will purchase the property for $237,000.
“There is an out clause that allows us to back away,” said Charlotte City Manager, Gregg Guetschow. “One thing that wasn’t explored was asbestos in the building. I’m not expecting the inspector to find enough to cause us any concern.”
Guetschow said the building, structurally, is in great shape as the State has done a “great job” in keeping the building in good repair. The City will utilize the facility for a number of reasons, the primary being for storage for the Department of Public Works. The purchase will be made utilizing money from the DPW’s revolving equipment fund.
“This serves a lot of purposes and does so in a very inexpensive way,” Guetschow said. “If we had to construct storage we would be spending much more.”
Guetschow said other departments within the City have a need for increased storage, including the police department and the wastewater treatment facility. He said the City has explored ways to increase its storage capacity and he feels this is the most effective way.
“I know this isn’t a popular decision and the timing isn’t necessarily great, but it was important for the city to purchase the property,” Burch said.
Burch said the purchase also ensures the city’s wellheads remain protected. The armory lies within the city’s wellhead protection zone and Burch said allowing an outside party to purchase the facility meant it would be more difficult to make sure the integrity of the water remains intact.
She said some residents have expressed concern with the purchase due to the City’s inability to adequately fund street repairs. Guetschow said the funds that will be utilized for the purchase of the building couldn’t be used to fund street repairs.
“That’s a question we get asked every time we make a capital expenditure,” Guetschow said. “We have our money broke down into different funds to be utilized for different purposes … we have to meet all those needs. We’ve been criticized for spending money to make repairs at City Hall, but it does not do any good to fix the streets and let City Hall fall into disrepair. We have to keep up on meeting the needs in a variety of places.”
