COLUMBUS, Ind. — The city of Columbus has approved allowing the construction of a gas pipeline in south Columbus.
The Columbus Board of Works has approved easements for CenterPoint Energy Indiana North for this project.
“The project basically connects a gas line from State Road 11, running east-southeast turning over to Gladstone,” said Nick Welch of Welch Abstract and Title, who is a land agent on the project. “And the basic gist of the project … is to provide redundant backup gas service to the city.”
CenterPoint engineer Andrew Dippold described the project as a 6-inch steel pipeline spanning 2.6 miles overall. Most of the line will be trenched, but some areas will be bored.
The approved easements concern two parcels of land, said City Attorney Alan Whitted. One is owned by the city of Columbus; the other is owned by both the city and Bartholomew County.
“Parcel 3” is owned by Columbus and described on city documents as behind the water plant and near the Flatrock River. It is east of South Lafayette Avenue. The area described as “Parcel 6” is actually made up of three parcels jointly owned by the city and county along the east side of Beatty Lane, with one located to the north of Kreutzer Drive and the other two to the south.
Dippold said that the gas feed into Columbus comes from the city’s north and south sides. The project will improve the feed on the city’s south side.
“The north side is the primary; the south side is kind of a secondary,” he explained. “What we’ve identified is that when we have — like in the summertime or even in the fall, if we do work on the system and we lose feed on the north side, the south side cannot support the feed into Columbus.”
The company will have to pay certain fees as part of the transaction.
“I think there’s a payment for the half-interest we own in what’s called, I think, Parcel 6, of $11,552 from CenterPoint,” said Whitted. “And the parcel that the city of Columbus owns, the fee’s simple. Looks like the amount would around $1,500 and change.”
The county has already given its approval for use of the jointly-owned site.
City Director of Administration and Community Development Mary Ferdon asked if the project will result in a direct charge to customers in the city of Columbus.
Dippold replied that CenterPoint is working on projects like this one all across the state.
“All of our ratepayers will get a charge,” he said. “They will all pay a small portion of what this is.”
For more on this story, see Monday’s Republic.
