County adopts hazard mitigation plan, applies for GATEWAY funding from state
By Steve Herring
Published in News on September 25, 2011 1:50 AM
No one spoke at either of the two brief public hearings held Tuesday morning before Wayne County commissioners -- the first on the countywide Hazard Mitigation Plan and the second on an application for $206,220 for the GATEWAY bus system.
Both were approved.
County Manager Lee Smith told commissioners that the Rural Operating Assistance Program application that will be submitted to the N.C. Department of Transportation consists of state and federal funds. No local funds, from either the county or city, are required, he said.
Commissioner Steve Keen asked if the anticipated funding was the same amount as last year. Smith told Keen it had fallen from $255,000.
GATEWAY Operations Director Terry Jordan said that the state has a formula it uses to allocate the money.
Jordan, who has worked with DOT in the past, also said he expects to be funded at a similar level next year.
"Our expectations are that we will expend all of our funds this year," he said. "That will be looked on when they are determining any future allocations."
The $206,220 includes funding to help provide operating assistance for the elderly and disabled, people with employment-related transportation needs, and people who do not have human service agency assistance to pay for their transportation and live in non-urbanized areas.
In a related issue, commissioners approved a change in how Goldsboro-Wayne Transportation Authority board members are appointed. When the Authority was created by the county and Goldsboro in 1997, it was agreed it would be a seven-member board with the city and county appointing three members each, alternating naming the seventh member.
The action approved Tuesday would allow the Authority to pick the seventh member. The change also must be approved by the City Council before it can be implemented.
The Hazard Mitigation Plan that was adopted is an analysis of natural hazards that might affect the county including flooding, drought, thunderstorms, tornadoes and hurricanes. The purpose of the plan is to establish goals and strategies that will help local governments and citizens to better prepare for the hazards.
Commissioners first approved the plan in June 2010. It has since been approved by the N.C. Office of Emergency Management and FEMA. Approval on the state and federal levels was delayed because Goldsboro was added to the plan after it had been approved by the county and its other municipalities.
The addition of Goldsboro does not place any extra obligations on the county or municipalities.
The next step will be adoption of the plan by the county's municipalities.
In other business Tuesday, commissioners approved three subdivision plats:
* Darryl Williams Fry and Karla Thompson Fry, final; owner/developer, Elizabeth W. Fry; one lot on the north side of Old Grantham Road approximately 970 feet east of James Hinson Road in Brogden Township.
* Dale D. Perry, final; owner/developer, Vicki Lancaster; one lot on the east side of Mount Carmel Church Road approximately 3,800 feet north of Daw Pate Road in Stoney Creek Township.
* Victor Ortiz Perez, final; owner/developer, Lynn Davenport; one lot on the west side of Price Road approximately 1,122 feet north of N.C. 55 in the Indian Springs Township
Commissioners also approved zoning approximately 29 acres of land near Charles B. Aycock High School to Residential-Agriculture 20. The board held a public hearing on the zoning change at its Sept. 6 session.
The county had received a letter from the town of Pikeville that the town board had released the 29 acres from the town's extraterritorial jurisdiction at the request of owner Brian Marcoux.
Commissioner Andy Anderson said Pikeville officials told him that the zoning would not negatively affect the town.