Zoning hearings scheduled at city meeting tonight
By Barbara Arntsen
Published in News on July 19, 2004 2:00 PM
Two public hearings scheduled for tonight's city council meeting concern amendments to Goldsboro's still unfinished zoning ordinance.
The council is soliciting comments on the "demolition by neglect" and "noise overlay district" additions to the ordinance.
The council and the planning department have worked on putting together a new zoning ordinance for the past two years, but it still isn't completed.
Last fall the board spent a number of work sessions going through the proposed ordinance page by page. The council found a number of areas where they wanted changes, but it had to wait until a new planning director was hired.
Don Chatman, the city's former planning director, retired in December. Randy Guthrie, a former assistant planner in Cary, was hired this past spring.
Guthrie has been making the revisions to the ordinance, which is now expected to be completed within the next month.
In the meantime, the council decided it was important to put these two amendments in the document.
The "demolition by neglect" section will prohibit property owners, specifically in the historic area and Central Business District, from allowing their properties to deteriorate.
A similar ordinance has been used effectively in Fayetteville, New Bern and Raleigh to clean up historic areas.
The ordinance makes property owners accountable for allowing property to deteriorate.
The "noise overlay district," will help the city provide for compatible development of land in areas subject to aircraft noise surrounding Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
Both hearings will be held at 7 p.m. in the council chambers in City Hall.