Downtown businesses dispute water meter location

It's Bob Brown's business to keep his customers' throats wet, but he's having a hard time with his own water supply.

Brown, owner of Cheers to You bar and a tenant at 317 S. Main in Salt Lake City, wants a new water meter so he can officially split water bills with his next-door neighbor.

It hasn't been an issue for him until recently because the building at 315 S. Main was vacant. However, now those property owners — a pair of downtown real estate brokers — are trying to renovate the building, including the water line and meter.

Brown said that the city moved water meters during construction of the north-south TRAX line in 1997 from inside the Cheers to You building and its neighbor and consolidated the two meters to one. That one meter now sits near the street curb along Main Street instead of inside the building.

Brown and Eric Fuhrman, one of the owners of 315 S. Main, want the city to pay for the new water meter because they think it incorrectly replaced the two older ones nine years ago.

But Brad Stewart, who handles new development water metering for the city's public utilities department, said city policy declares water users pay for their own usage, including metering.

"The owner who requests the service pays for the service," Stewart said. "The alternative would be for the other (water) rate payers to do it."

A new meter for the size of the water main that Brown and Fuhrman need runs nearly $4,000, and construction costs would be several times that to rip up the Main Street sidewalk and pavement and replace the meter according to city code.

The plumbing branches off the water main and runs through Fuhrman's property before going into Cheers to You. Brown wants the city to split the line near the street, take one line to his bar, send the other line to Fuhrman's building, and put a new meter on the line to Fuhrman's property.

"Nothing about these plumbing situations is according to city code now," Brown said. "Why not just fix the problem?"

Stewart didn't mention that as an option. Instead, he said that if Fuhrman doesn't want to pay to rip up the street and sidewalk, then perhaps Brown could put in a sub-meter. With the sub-meter, Brown could monitor water volume going to Fuhrman's building, collect a bill from him, and the two would send one combined check to the city for the official and unofficial meters.

Fuhrman concedes that he and his business partner, Vasilios Priskos, may just have to pay for the upgrades themselves rather than continue to fight the city. Fuhrman had hoped to have a tenant open for business about two months ago, but they've had to delay renovations for a locally owned kosher deli because of the water meter dispute.

"This water meter is how they bill you," Fuhrman said. "Wouldn't they want to put the meter out there to make money on selling us water?"

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E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com