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The Stanly Board of Commissioners have added another water line project.

Commissioner Lane Furr presented the motion to the board at a recent meeting to add an extension project for the current fiscal year on Bost Road. The project would not exceed $200,000 and would be a six-inch water line for 1,750 feet.

The extension follows on the heels of a previous small area water line extension program on Webb Road.

Chairman Matthew Swain asked about the cost of Webb Road extension, which County Manager Andy Lucas said was about $650,000, using the cost estimate of $8 per linear square foot.

Swain asked if the money would be fund-balanced appropriated, which Lucas affirmed.

“This would give us the authority to begin the conversations with the engineer and get that process started,” Lucas said.

Bost Road was also part of the Phase Four Water and Sewer Authority Project, so the motion would take it away from the USDA project.

Commissioner Bill Lawhon asked where roads in the Locust area such as Maple Street (1,266 feet), Oxworth (783 feet), Pine Ridge (959 feet), Creek View (1,564 feet) and Meadow Creek (nearly 8,300 feet) were on the priority list.

“I’d like to have water and sewer throughout this county, but that’s not possible,” Lawhon said, adding the Locust area “is growing like crazy.”

Lucas said Meadow Creek was one area looked at along with Webb Road, adding money from the upcoming sale of the county’s home health agency could fund public water projects, a topic Lucas called “one of the biggest public health issues in this community.”

The county manager added there were multiple areas in the county which money could be reinvested into water lines, which he said the board “should give some considerable thought” into doing. Water projects like the one from the USDA take a longer time to happen, he added.

Vice Chairman Ashley Morgan said this particular road gives the county redundancy in the western part of the county, adding if a problem came up, water could be rerouted for residents.

Lucas said the piece of the pipeline does not connect but gets the lines much closer.

Lucas said the county is expecting an answer on the fourth phase in the fourth quarter of this year or the first of 2021.