Council accepts plan for corner
By Ty Johnson
Published in News on July 24, 2012 1:46 PM
The Goldsboro City Council gave its blessing Monday to a property owner who first filed a rezoning request for his property at the corner of North Berkeley Boulevard and Ridgecrest Drive more than four months ago.
The City Council delivered a 6-0 decision at its meeting allowing for the rezoning of the northeast corner of that intersection from office and institutional to neighborhood business conditional district.
District 2 Councilman Bob Waller was not present at the meeting.
The measure also rezoned an attached parcel from residential to neighborhood business, as well. That property was added later to allow for an additional access to Summit Drive in response to concerns about what commercial development would mean for traffic in the neighborhood adjacent to the property.
The proposed uses for that property include a 10,000-square-foot retail building or a 9,000-square-foot facility with mixed use. That scenario would include a 4,500-square-foot building devoted to traditional retail or for use as an ice cream/frozen yogurt shop and an up to 4,500-square-foot fast casual full service sit-down restaurant serving alcoholic beverages.
Faison and Associates, which owns Berkeley Mall, has represented the prospective buyer throughout the rezoning process, which included two public hearings where neighbors spoke out against the measure. The council first rejected the request April 16, but granted a waiver to allow the property owner to file another request without the traditional six-month delay.
One of Wayne County's own heroes was also celebrated during the meeting at Historic City Hall as Henry Rayner was honored for receiving the Congressional Gold Medal.
At the council work session ahead of its regular meeting, Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. Director Julie Thompson discussed the retirement of a number of DGDC-sponsored events throughout the year.
DGDC will no longer hold its biannual Teddy Bear Picnics or the annual Ice Cream Social and Pet Parade and will hold only one Available Properties Open House per year instead of two. The Annual Speakers Forum will be held every two years instead of annually and there will be fewer downtown trolley tours held throughout the year.
Ms. Thompson said the move will allow her staff more time to devote to other priorities the council has for her department, and said that she will be in contact with other organizations about perhaps taking some of the programs over. Her department could possibly assist in planning and funding in an effort to keep the programs going, but they will no longer be chiefly run by DGDC staff.