Following pleas for assistance from members of the Edgewood Terrace community of West End, the county board of commissioners has voted to move forward with grant funding to provide city water to area residents.

Last month some Edgewood Terrace homeowners began having difficulty obtaining water from their wells, and discussed the situation at that time with members of the county's public works department. At Tuesday's regular meeting of the county board, two options were presented by Public Works Director Randy Gould.

"The first option is to extend a county water line for the entire road at an estimated construction cost of $131,420. The second is to extend a county water line to only a portion of the road that serves residents who are having problems with their wells."

The estimated cost for the second option is $69,210.

Gould said that grants are available from several sources including one from the North Carolina Rural Development Center. If implemented, each lot owner would still pay a tap fee of $1,900.

A 50-year resident of Edgewood Terrace, Van Cole said the issue was causing "friction" in the community due to misinformation.

"The first meeting with public works was a fiasco," Cole said, "and it went downhill from there."

The board unanimously passed a motion to proceed with the grant process.

"These people need help," said Commissioners' Chairman Larry Caddell. Let's do a full court press and get this done."

Read more in Friday's edition of the Pilot.