Church Backtracks on Ridgewalk Parkway Widening Agreement

The company that is slated to build a mega church along Ridgewalk Parkway is having second thoughts on an agreement that would help widen the thoroughfare.

Representatives with Ridgewalk Holdings, the company that sold the land to Northpoint Ministries to build Watermarke Church on Ridgewalk Parkway just east of the Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta, on Monday told the Woodstock City Council it does not feel it could move forward with contributing towards the project to widen the road between Ridge Trail and Main Street.

Rick Taylor, managing partner with Ridgewalk Holdings, said the proposed costs to widen the road have exceeded what the church is prepared to pay for, and the company said they felt the city would have more savings if it managed the project. 

Taylor said the church received two proposed bids from companies to widen the road, and the lesser of the two noted the cost would be around $1.08 million.

Taylor noted about $70,000 had been set aside just in case they run into rock in the beginning phases and another $30,000 was allotted to pay for a person to flag motorists over the railroad track during the construction, which is a requirement. 

"We think you all can manage the project better than we can," said Rick Taylor, noting the company would also give the $1 million its set aside for engineering to the city for the project. 

City Manager Jeff Moon said the city did not manage phases 1, 2 and 3 of Ridgewalk widening and that agreement was worked out with outlet mall developer Horizon Group Properties.

He also said the city has been helpful in containing costs for the church's project, namely waiving the permit fees for the church in relation to the road improvement. 

Northpoint agreed to donate towards the cost of the widening project. That agreement stemmed from a 2008 condition of zoning that was placed on that parcel when a previous developer wanted to build an apartment complex on the land. 

Moon added that if the city did move forward with paying for the road project, it would come from Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax dollars.

Furthermore, that decision to fund the road widening could possibly take away money set aside for future road resurfacing projects and equipment purchases budgeted in the current five-year SPLOST cycle, which started last year.

Mayor Donnie Henriques noted he wasn't advocating which way the council should go, but noted completing the widening project is important. 

"While I'm not thrilled about sticking out necks out — this is what we would be doing — this is a very important piece of the puzzle that is the outlet mall," he said, adding he's "hard pressed to see that we don't take a step in that direction." 

The church and its engineers told the city it would send out a revised request to obtain new bids to get an updated cost of the project. 

Don't miss any news from Woodstock-Towne Lake Patch! Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here. Also, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!