DATE: Wednesday, October 29, 1997           TAG: 9710290644

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   37 lines

PORTSMOUTH WILL MAINTAIN WATER LINES BETWEEN MAIN AND METER

For more than 30 years, Portsmouth citizens have complained about paying for leaky water lines to their homes.

Tuesday night, the City Council unanimously approved requiring the utility department to pay for repairs or replacements to any water service connection, between the main and the meter, installed prior to July 1, 1962.

Under the new ordinance, the utility department will not pay for moving lines, such as when a citizen wants lines moved before any home construction.

Utility Director James R. Spacek said it's an equitable solution.

He said the lines generated the most complaints at his department. ``This leads to a more customer-friendly policy,'' Spacek said.

Stephen Whitehead, president of the Westhaven Civic League, said he was pleased the council approved the measure. Whitehead and many other citizens petitioned City Council to change the policy, asking that the utility department install and be responsible for the service lines. Although the citizens could never get a referendum on the issue, the city did create a commission to study the matter.

``Thirty-something years ago, we asked the city to change the policy,'' Whitehead told the council Tuesday night. ``But the city manager said it would bankrupt the city. . . . It took a quarter of century, and it's about time.''

In other city business, the council approved $4.8 million in Community Development Block Grant funds for redevelopment efforts the for Crawford, Shea Terrace, and Mount Hermon Conservation Plan.

However, the council passed an ammendment, 6-1, that exempted property in the 1300 block of County Street. The Rev. Antonio Stephenson's New Jerusalem Family Church is located there. The council gave Stephenson six months to return with design plans for his church expansion. If he can't, the property will be acquired by PRHA for redevelopment. KEYWORDS: WATER PORTSMOUTH CITY COUNCIL

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