Council will eye sports complex lease
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on October 4, 2015 1:50 AM
The approval of a lease agreement for a multi-sports complex between the city and the United States Air Force is on the Goldsboro City Council's agenda for Monday.
The council will hold its work session at 5 p.m. Monday in Room 206 of the City Hall annex, and its regularly scheduled meeting at 7 p.m. in the council chambers.
The proposed lease has not been made public because the city has not been authorized by the Air Force to release a copy. City Manager Scott Stevens said a copy likely will be made public sometime Monday morning.
"I guess I would have to say no, in all fairness, that doesn't give the public a whole lot of time to read over it before it is signed," Stevens said.
The city and the Air Force have been working to arrive on an agreeable lease for several months, but meetings to negotiate the terms have not been open to the public.
If signed under current terms, the city would only be able to secure the land for the multi-sports complex for 20 years, with the opportunity to extend the lease in 10-year increments, and would have to pay to both build fields on the site and to demolish them at the end of the 20-year agreement if the lease cannot be extended.
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base would provide land off Oak Forest Road for field construction, and in exchange, the city would be required to build a 2,500-square-foot addition to the SJAFB fitness center.
The city also would have to allow the base to use the facility for recreational use and organized programming, even though the city is required to pay for the construction, maintenance and demolition of the multi-sports complex through the use of city occupancy tax funds and a $3 million loan from the county.
Approval of the lease agreement is subject staff approval of the lease language and terminology.
In other business, the city Planning Commission has filed a recommendation to the Goldsboro City Council stating that a request by Evelyn Hernandez to open a dual-use events center with ABC permits and a tax office on the west side of U.S. 117 South between Old Waynesborough Road and Carver Boulevard should be denied.
In its recommendation, the planning commission says 199 parking spaces would be required to accommodate the size of the proposed center. There are already 60 parking spaces on the property and Ms. Hernandez requested the required number of spaces be decreased from 199 to 100, as there is room to accommodate 40 spaces behind the building in which she would open her business. Neighboring residents opposed the center at a public hearing, saying it would be incompatible with current uses in the vicinity.
Another item up for approval is a request by C.C. Wilkins to open an automobile repair and body shop on the north side of U.S. 70 East between East Ash Street and Millers Chapel Road. There is one condition to the opening of the business, even if the city council approves the vote. The proposed location lies within the "accident potential zone" of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, and will still need to be approved by SJAFB even if it is approved by the council.
Also on the council's agenda is an item allowing the city to charge residents who use city garbage collection $6 for what is called a "return service." The fee would be charged to residents whose garbage was not collected on their scheduled day, causing the resident to call the Public Works Department and request that it return and pick up their garbage.
The $6 charge will be added to the resident's water bill if the council chooses to approve it. In order for return service to be initiated, the homeowner must request the service or their neighbor must file a complaint with the Public Works department stating that the bin has been left out for longer than 24 hours.
The new fee will cover bins not collected due to improper bin placement, overflow or similar offenses.
This return service fee was initially discussed by the council under the name of a "call back" service, but Public Works Director Jose Martinez felt that name too closely resembled the $4 fee implemented at the last council meeting, which is called a "push back" service.