Council to weigh rezoning requests for new Walmarts
By Matt Caulder
Published in News on March 16, 2014 1:50 AM
A public hearing will be held during the Goldsboro City Council meeting Monday night for comments on the annexation for the site of the proposed Walmart Express at the corner of Wayne Memorial Drive and Tommy's Road.
The annexation would allow the site to be hooked into the city water lines and to sell beer and wine.
The lines would be extended to the site at Walmart's expense.
The five-acre lot would house the Walmart and parking lot facing Tommy's Road.
An annexation petition is also up for approval for a second Walmart on the City Council agenda.
The Walmart would be located on the southeast corner of N.C. 111 South and U.S. 70.
If the two are approved and built it will mean four in city limits including the annexed area in Rosewood and the Spence Avenue location.
If the annexation petition is examined and found to be valid, a hearing will be set for the second annexation as well.
Up for discussion during the work session is whether the city will apply for the TIGER VI U.S. Department of Transportation grant to try to get another $10 million for downtown renovations.
If approved, the project would pay for renovating Union Station and Streetscape along Carolina and Center streets at a cost of $12.89 million, with $2.89 million coming from the city.
Union Station was the focal point of the last TIGER application with the intention of renovating the space as a meeting hall until rail transportation returned to Goldsboro, but the TIGER committee chose not to fund that portion in its grant award.
The TIGER V grant only funded Streetscape along Center and Walnut streets and the construction of a GATEWAY transfer facility next to Union Station, which is expected to be completed over the next two years.
If the measure is approved, the city would have until 2016 to encumber the funds for the project making the need for project planning ahead of the application less necessary.
Questions arose during the City Council's work session March 10 about continuing work downtown amid other concerns in the city and about the validity of renovating Union station for rail transportation that is not guaranteed to return to Goldsboro.
A budget amendment is on the City Council's consent agenda that would pay almost $250,000 to the town of Fremont for over-charging the town for sanitation services for the past three years.
The town of Fremont ships excess waste water to Goldsboro to be treated and pays the city a capitalized rate for the treatment.
It was discovered through a joint effort between the municipalities that the system transmitting the amount of waste water picked up for treatment was not sending out correct readings.
The system sending out the readings has now been re-calibrated.