City, county eye joint project
By Steve Herring
Published in News on March 5, 2015 1:46 PM
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The former Goldsboro Country Club, a multi-sports complex, an agricultural and convention center and an intergovernmental agreement are the topics of an upcoming joint meeting of the city and county.
Plans for a Wayne County agricultural and convention center, a multi-sports complex at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and the Goldsboro Country Club are expected to be unveiled Friday afternoon.
An invitation was sent out Wednesday afternoon announcing the joint meeting between Wayne County commissioners and the Goldsboro City Council at 2 p.m. at the country club, 1501 S. Slocumb St.
The official meeting notice from the county commissioners lists the purpose of the session as "to consider and approve an intergovernmental agreement between the city and county."
The city sent out a similar notice.
The county's notice provides no other information, and county and city officials have declined to comment specifically on the plans or what the intergovernmental agreement would entail.
According to the invitation sent out by the county, there will be a "special announcement about the future of these projects" at Friday's meeting.
The invitation was sent to Dr. Sandra McCullen, superintendent of Wayne County Public Schools; Dr. Kay Albertson, Wayne Community College president; Kate Daniels, Wayne County Chamber of Commerce president; and Crystal Gettys, president of the Wayne County Development Alliance.
The country club closed at the end of December, and with little discussion, the City Council in February voted to purchase the property.
The idea was to move in by June -- just in time for wedding season -- so the property could be shown to prospective brides and grooms planning 2016 summer weddings.
The city will buy out the club's debt at cost, and spend another $400,000 in renovations. The project could cost up to $1.5 million once all the necessary renovations are completed, Parks and Recreation director Scott Barnard said at that time.
During the discussion about the purchase, Barnard said purchasing the country club would allow the city to have a much larger building for events than anything it would be able to construct on its own.
The adjacent golf course is already owned by the city.
The multi-sports complex was one of several projects that the city had floated a bond issue to finance.
The bond vote failed. But in October, the City Council went ahead with a contract with the design firm of Site Solutions for the sports complex, which would be built just off Oak Forest Road.
The total cost of the design work will be $179,250.
The county two years ago revived its plans for an approximately $14 million regional agriculture center.
Commissioners initially set aside $2 million for the project with hopes that local legislators would be able to convince the General Assembly to provide at least another $3 million.
However, during a recent breakfast meeting, legislators were not optimistic the state would fund the project.
They suggested that the $2 million in local funds was not enough to convince legislators of the county's commitment to the project.
Last month, commissioners added $2 million, for a total of $4 million, to a capital project ordinance spanning 2014-17 for the agriculture center.
On Wednesday, state Sen. Louis Pate, R-Wayne, and Don Davis, D- Greene, filed a bill seeking a $3 million state appropriation for the project.
A similar bill was filled two years ago, but did not go anywhere.
The county has hired an architect to design enough of the project to have plans available so the county can seek private and public funding.
The preferred location is a former state dairy on Old Smithfield Road across from O'Berry Center.
The county has asked the state to donate the land for the project, but has yet to receive a response.