Rezoning request returns to board
By Steve Herring
Published in News on January 6, 2016 1:46 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- A controversial rezoning request for county-owned property in the Mount Olive Industrial Park will be back before the public next month nearly a year after a contentious and at times heated discussion scuttled the original request.
The Mount Olive Town Board Monday night set a new public hearing for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 8, at town hall. The board also agreed to move its regular first-of-the-month meeting from Feb. 1 to Feb. 8.
The difference this time is that the request will include covenants sought by the town to protect nearby property owners.
The covenants include construction of a tree-lined berm to provide a buffer zone between the property and the adjacent College Heights subdivision.
The restrictions already have been approved by Wayne County commissioners, Mayor Ray McDonald Sr. said.
The county asked the town in November of 2014 to rezone 45.75 acres on U.S. 117 Alt. North from Agriculture to Industry-1 (heavy industry).
But during the first public hearing in December of 2014 angry residents said that instead of developing the property the county should look at developing land to the east across the Old Mount Olive Highway from the Industrial Park and maybe southward because there are fewer residential areas.
After nearly an hour of contentious debate at the December 2014 session, residents agreed to McDonald's suggestion they meet with Wayne County commissioners.
At the 2014 public hearing John Sykes, of Pineland Avenue, presented the board with a petition signed by 18 of the 28 property owners at College Heights saying the rezoning posed the real possibility of being "detrimental" to their quality of life as well as negatively affecting property values perhaps to the extent they would be unable to sell their property.
During last night's meeting recently elected At-large Commissioner Jerry Harper asked if the town would notify nearby property owners.
McDonald said that all adjoining property owners would be notified as well as those who own property across U.S. 117 Alt. North from the industrial park.
The 45.75 acres adjoins a tract that that the county already owns that is zoned Industry-I.
Mike Haney, who at the time was existing industry specialist with the Wayne County Development Alliance, said during the December of 2014 public hearing the county already owned 74 acres zoned Industry-1 and had just wanted the other 45.75 acre tract zoned the same.
The county made a "substantial" investment in the purchase of the property for development of the Mount Olive Industrial Park, Haney said at the 2014 public hearing.
In other business Monday night, the board unanimously adopted a resolution to apply for a $40,000 bicycle and pedestrian planning grant.
The town will be required to make a $4,000 match for the state Department of Transportation grant. The funding would allow the town to install new sidewalks throughout the town and repair existing sidewalks.
Bicycle lanes could be considered as well.
Mount Olive Police Department Patrolman Blake Turner was honored as the department's Officer of the Quarter.
He has worked with the department since September of 2013 and has been a volunteer firefighter for more than seven years.
Turner goes above and beyond the call of duty as an officer and in his dedication to the community, police Chief Tommy Brown said.
Brown said that on Nov. 23, 2015, Turner responded to a shoplifting call at Walmart.
When Turner arrived he was told an elderly woman had attempted to leave the store without paying for a pair of shoes.
"You did your job as a law enforcement officer and issued the lady a citation for the larceny of the shoes," Brown said. "But during the course of your investigation you found she was destitute and had no funds to pay for the shoes.
"You also discovered she was in desperate need of the shoes basically due to the upcoming cold weather. You took it upon yourself without prompting from anyone and paid for the shoes out of your own pocket and gave them back to the lady." That, Brown said, speaks volumes about Turner's character and drive to treat others with respect and care.
"I have heard you make the comment to others that this lady could have been your grandmother or anyone else's for that matter," Brown said. "It is the personal are you added to the situation that just may have lessened the burden on another."