Gloucester public utilities staff will be sticking with their current utilities maintenance yard behind Southern States on Main Street for a while longer.

The Gloucester County Board of Supervisors made the decision Saturday, following a joint meeting with the Gloucester School Board in the T.C. Walker Education Center, not to proceed with the purchase of a property located on Short Lane to construct a county public utilities yard. 

The money had already been allocated by the previous board of supervisors for a utilities yard and sewer maintenance from a 2011 loan the county borrowed.

The new yard would have included office space for public utilities staff, adequate restroom and shower facilities for utilities workers to clean up after responding to a maintenance issue, as well as an indoor area to store equipment during cold weather.

The parcel on Short Lane was under contract for the county to purchase, and though the county was under no obligation to buy it, a decision had ...