Judge withdraws proposal for new club on South Slocumb
By Anessa Myers
Published in News on January 8, 2008 2:14 PM
Superior Court Judge Jerry Braswell has changed his mind about the focus of a proposed "jazz and blues club" for adults 30 years of age and older on South Slocumb Street.
Braswell had asked Goldsboro City Council to change the zoning for the property located between Olivia Lane and Wilmington Avenue from neighborhood business to general business conditional district to allow for the bar to operate.
Goldsboro City Council denied his proposal at its meeting Monday night.
But that is exactly what Braswell wanted.
The judge wrote a letter to the council Monday stating he would like to withdraw his application because, Braswell said in the letter, "the current application that I submitted does not accurately reflect the full scope of our intended use."
"It is necessary that we amend the application," he added in the letter.
Planning Director Randy Guthrie said Braswell wanted to make the establishment more of a restaurant with a bar instead of just making the entire area into a bar.
Mayor Al King asked if Braswell already had a restaurant there, and Guthrie said that he did, but with the first proposal, the restaurant would be closed during the time of the bar's operation.
He added that he believed Braswell just wanted to have the current "grill" and the proposed bar operating at the same time.
The problem was, since the council already held a public hearing for the proposal at its Dec. 17 meeting, Braswell's proposal couldn't just be withdrawn.
He understood that, saying in the letter that if the council should choose to act on the application because of the hearing, then it is requested that the application be denied without prejudice.
Usually, if an application is denied without prejudice, the applicant must wait six months before he can bring the proposal back to council for a decision.
Braswell requested the waiting period be waived, so that he might submit "a more complete application at a later date," he wrote in the letter.
The council honored his request and waived the waiting period.
In other business, council held one public hearing for the AT&T Call Center on U.S. 117 South to help determine whether the city will give a cash grant of $75,000 on the signing of a performance agreement for the establishment and maintenance of 300 to 350 jobs plus additional grants up to a total of $25,000 over a three-year period based on ad valorem taxes paid by the company.
Joanna Thompson, president of Wayne County Development Alliance and the only person who spoke at the hearing, thanked the council for all of its help in "bringing a Fortune 50 company to Goldsboro" and explained that "any and all incentives will be performance-based and subject to an agreement (with AT&T) to create and sustain those jobs."
After the hearing, council approved the grant request for economic development.
Council members also approved amending the capital projects fund ordinance for the first installment, totaling $8,517,956, for all of the city hall improvement phases.
The council approved two site and landscape plans as well.
The first, a plan for a 13,959-square-foot addition to the Kitty Askins Hospice Center on Wayne Memorial Drive between Lockhaven Drive and Country Day Road, included the relocation of parking areas into one lot that will contain 40 spaces, with six handicapped spaces. The new building will have 24 total beds and 16 employees. Other existing structures on the site, such as a gazebo and a fountain, will be relocated.
The second site and landscape plan was for a McDon-ald's location on N.C. 111 South.
A site plan revision for Castles 21st Century Community Learning Center on South Slocumb Street was also approved.
Other consent agenda items and an item requiring individual action that council members approved included four amendments to the police budget, appointments to city advisory boards and commissions, changing the name of a portion of Salem Church Road to Salem Hill Lane, a resolution expressing appreciation for Jerry Langston who served the city as a firefighter for more than 34 years and the city's audit.
StageStruck's Traveling Troupe also performed a medley of songs for the council.