Council to vote on plan to build cemetery
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on September 6, 2015 1:50 AM
Goldsboro City Council is expected to vote Tuesday on a proposal by the Islamic Center of Goldsboro to build a cemetery beside its mosque at 506 Fedelon Trail.
The city's planning commission has recommended council adopt an ordinance rezoning the land to allow a cemetery to be constructed there and has recommended the approval of site and landscape plans for the project.
The proposal is listed on the council's agenda as an item requiring individual action, and six of the council's seven members will need to vote in favor of the planning commission's recommendation for it to be approved. The extra votes are required because a protest petition was signed by 60 percent of property owners surrounding the proposed cemetery site, which invokes the council's four-fifths voting rule, which requires four-fifths of the council to vote in favor of a measure for it to pass.
Therefore, a simple majority vote of 4 to 3 will not be enough for the proposal to pass.
The planning commission's recommendation for approval comes with one contingency: The cemetery must maintain a total setback of 100 feet from the eastern property line, where there is a private residence, and 75 feet from the northern property line, where there is vacant farmland.
The planning commission considered several factors before recommending approval including burial laws in North Carolina, Wayne County Health Department regulations for cemeteries and jurisdictional regulations for cemeteries in nearby cities.
In North Carolina, there are no laws or regulations requiring embalming, and Muslims do not embalm their dead. No law requires a casket or vault for burial unless individual cemeteries have container rules. Muslims do no traditionally bury their dead in a casket or container but rather wrap their dead in a linen cloth.
No North Carolina laws prohibit burials on private property unless there are local governmental restrictions, and environmental health regulations would apply to the proposed cemetery.
According to Wayne County Health Department guidelines, gravesites must be at least 50 feet from a well or water supply, and must be a minimum of 18 inches below the ground's surface.
The planning commission looked at cemetery regulations in Kinston, Winston-Salem and Raleigh.
In Kinston, private cemeteries are allowed as an accessory to a church by right in all zoning districts except industrial.
In Winston-Salem, private cemeteries as an accessory to a church are allowed in all zoning districts, including industrial.
In Raleigh, cemeteries are allowed in all zoning districts, but must take into account present and future improvement plans and must be more than 40 feet away from any street right-of-way, unless the right-of-way is not required for future city improvements.
In other business, there are 23 total items on Tuesday night's combined agendas to be discussed by the council.
Of the 23 items to be discussed, 10 will be heard during the council's 5 p.m. work session in Room 206 of the city hall addition, with Goldsboro Parks and Recreation making up the majority of the items to be discussed during the work session.
A representative of Parks and Recreation will provide an update on the Goldsboro Country Club's construction progress and council will look at more options for a name for the club.
The representative also will discuss Beak Week, which begins Friday.
Also on the agenda is a joint-use agreement between the city and Wayne County Public Schools. Under the plan, the city would be able to use certain school facilities in exchange for some groundskeeping at some district-owned properties.
A proposed partnership between the city, Duke Energy and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Environmental Resources that would allow the mountains to sea trail to be brought through Goldsboro also will be discussed.
Also during the work session, the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. will present to the council a proposed downtown marketing and advertising campaign.
There are 13 items to be discussed on the council's consent agenda during the regularly scheduled meeting at 7 p.m. in the council chambers.
First on the consent agenda is an item awarding a contract for the city's bituminous concrete resurfacing project to Barnhill Contracting Co. of Kinston for $478,261. Barnhill submitted the low bid for the work totaling $543,343.99, but only $478,261 is available for the project in the city's budget.
The proposed work consists of about 35,000 square yards of bituminous concrete resurfacing and approximately 11,200 square yards of milling asphalt pavement for sections of North Madison Avenue, South Carolina Street, West Spruce Street, South Alabama A venue, Bunche Drive, Beal Street, Cashwell Drive, North Hillcrest Drive, North Marion Drive and Daniel Drive.
Also included in this project is the restriping of Harris Street from Slocumb Street to Stoney Creek Parkway and Bunche Drive from Simpson Street to Slocumb Street.
To fit the city's budget, the scope of the project will be reduced by removing plans to resurface from Eason Street to Slocumb Street to Devereaux Street and North Hillcrest Drive from Dawn Circle to Pine Needles Road.
Also on the consent agenda are two items that have already come before the council in the form of public hearings.
One item would allow Increase Internet Games in the Shoppes of Goldsboro on the north side of U.S. 70 West between N.C. 581 and Westbrook Avenue to add 18 more computers to its existing computer game operation. This would bring the total amount of computers at the location to 48.
The Internet café has continuously operated since Dec. 5, 2011, but ownership has changed and the new owner, Young No, wants to add more computers.
When a public hearing was held on the matter on July 27, no one appeared to speak for or against the request. In past dealings with Internet cafes, there have been a total of 14 requests for conditional use permits to operate Internet cafes in the city. Of those, 11 have been approved and three have been denied.
Dillard Academy also has requested to rezone a section of its property so a building on the site can be used for offices and storage.
The city's planning commission has recommended that the council approve the rezoning request from Dillard Academy even though the site is recommended for use as an industrial development site in the city's comprehensive land use plan.
The council's work session begins at 5 p.m. in Room 206 of the city hall addition, and the regularly scheduled council meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the council chambers of city hall.