City Council to meet Monday
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on August 2, 2015 1:50 AM
Goldsboro City Council members will talk about Goldsboro Country Club, a park, a playground -- and chickens -- when they meet Monday night.
Council members will face an agenda that includes nine work session items, three presentations, 10 consent agenda items and one item requiring individual action.
Among the council's work session items for consideration are plans for this year's Beak Week in September as well as updates on the work at Goldsboro Country Club, on a proposed KaBoom playground, on the H.V. Brown Park master plan, on a proposed joint use agreement with Wayne County Public Schools and on the city's ongoing TIGER V grant projects.
Items were auctioned off from the Goldsboro Country Club at the beginning of June, and money has been borrowed to begin renovations to the inside of the club. The items that were not auctioned off will be incorporated back into the country club or be moved to other offices in the city.
Beak Week, a festival celebrating the poultry industry, debuted last year in September. Details for this year's event will be announced Monday.
Local businessman David Weil attended the first council meeting of April 2015 to propose a KaBoom playground for Goldsboro.
KaBoom is a non-profit organization formed 20 years ago. It has built 16,000 parks and playgrounds across the United States. Parks are planned by the community and then constructed by volunteers with the guidance of KaBoom representatives.
Weil is expected to provide an update to the council on the project's progress.
In light of a growing need for meeting space and gymnasium access throughout Goldsboro, the city is sizing up a possible agreement with Wayne County Public Schools that would provide the necessary facilities.
In exchange for after-hours use of gymnasiums, fields and rooms at the schools, the city would maintain several city school ballfields.
Parks and Recreation Director Scott Barnard will give an update on the progression of the agreement.
There are four items on the city council's consent agenda that required public hearings. Two of the issues -- a rezoning that would allow the construction of a Muslim cemetery on Fedelon Trail and an approval of Increase Internet Games adding 18 more computers -- have received recommendations from the city's planning commission that the council vote on the matters be deferred until September.
The other two issues, allowing Earl Beasley to obtain ABC permits for a proposed new business at 3009 E. Ash St. and allowing Julia Tillett to convert her former Internet game business to a bingo establishment, have received recommendations from the city's planning commission that they be approved.
Next on the council's consent agenda is an item to allow site modifications at the Church of Whitsun on the west side of South Slocumb Street between Olivia Lane and Wilmington Avenue. The pastor says the church has 15 members and the required 43 parking spaces are not necessary. The planning commission is recommending allowing the reduction of parking spaces, modifying the street tree requirement along Olivia Lane and Wilmington Avenue, and reducing two front and rear setback along Olivia Lane from 20 feet to zero and 25 feet to four and a half feet, respectively.
Also on the agenda is an item requesting that the North Carolina Department of Transportation designate and name the Goldsboro bypass currently being constructed near the existing U.S. 70. The road is currently named N.C. 44, and the planning commission has recommended the state officially name the stretch of road being constructed.
Also on the agenda is an item approving an expenditure of $141,701 from the city's utility fund to replace a four-inch water line on Mulberry Street from Center Street to James Street with a 10-inch water line. The contract will be awarded to T.A. Loving if approved by the council. The reason for replacing the line is to improve water pressure for properties in the area.
The engineering firm of McKim and Creed recently used closed circuit television equipment to inspect the city's sewer lines. During the evaluation it was discovered that about 39,000 feet of sewer line in the city has not been evaluated. On the agenda is an item approving the city's Engineering Department to spend $128,850 to analyze the remaining footage that will be used in Phase 3 of the city's ongoing inflow and infiltration rehabilitation.
The city will receive $314,687 in Community Development Block Grant funds and $149,935 in HOME Investment Partnership Program funds this year from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
These grant funds can be used for rehabilitation of substandard housing, testing, abatement and monitoring of hazardous material, homebuyer assistance, public facilities and improvements, public services, acquisition, demolition and clearance of properties, economic development, Community Housing Development Organization activity and program administration. On the consent agenda is an item approving the receipt of these funds by the city and allowing the Community Development Department to spend them according to the aforementioned guidelines.
Last on the consent agenda is an item from the city requesting that the state lower the speed limit on Central Heights Road from 45 miles per hour to 35 miles per hour from New Hope Road to U.S. 13 North.
There is one item requiring individual action, which is an item allowing the issuance of $4.5 million in bonds by the Foundation for Affordable Housing to purchase and renovate the Jefferson Court Apartments at 1100 N. Jefferson St. A public hearing was held on the matter at the last council meeting.
The affordable housing complex is currently owned and operated by PK Management, which will be responsible for paying the cost of issuance on the bonds, the insurance on the bonds and be responsible for funding a debt service reserve fund for the bonds.
The purchase would be part of a $75.5 million nationwide bond issuance that would see 13 affordable housing complexes across the nation purchased by the organization.
The city has recommended allowing the issuance of the bonds, but a council vote will be taken on the matter at Monday night's meeting.