By DAVID DUPONT
BG INDEPENDENT NEWS
The Bowling Green Board of Public Utilities approved an easement that will allow Brathaus on East Court Street to expand.
Utilities Director Brian O’Connell said that Doug Doren, who owns the bar, wants to extend the bar, but that would place a building over a manhole.
The city would redirect the sewer, which now heads north toward Oak Street, to connect with the line down South Main Street. While digging, O’Connell said, the city will bury the utilities lines. That will allow it to take down a large laminant utility pole across the street from Brathaus on East Court.
O’Connell said that the estimate for doing the work was more than Doren had anticipated, so the expansion may be delayed until spring. O’Connell said he would discuss the project with the owner.
O’Connell suggested that the city share the expense of the project by assuming the cost of burying the electric lines, which is not essential for the bar expansion to proceed. That work would benefit the city, he said.
Doren controls most of the neighboring properties, but the Gavarone family, which owns Mr. Spots, would have to agree.
In voting for the easement, board member Bill Culbertson said: “It’s a good idea. It cleans things up.”
The board also approved an easement for a water line to cross the parking lot in front of the Dairy Queen. That line now dead ends where Grant Street bumps into the railroad tracks. That causes concerns for water pressure in the case of a fire. That line will now connect with the line that runs up East Wooster Street. That would also enable further improvements if the six-inch line that now runs down Enterprise Street is upgraded to an eight-inch line.
Answering a query from Mayor Dick Edwards, Daryl Stockburger, assistant utilities director, explained that one of the wind turbines is not operating because the city is waiting for parts for a gearbox.
Wind turbine parts, he said, come from around the world, and the turbines, now 15 years old, are requiring more maintenance. Some suppliers are no longer even in business. Also repair crews must be dispatched from New York or Minnesota.
