Council expected to deny events center
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on March 6, 2016 1:45 AM
The Goldsboro City Council is expected to follow the recommendation of the city Planning Commission at its meeting Monday night and deny a rezoning request from Patrick Gallagher that would allow him to operate an events center on his property on Leslie Street between Walnut Street and Mulberry Street.
The motion of denial appears as an item on the council's consent agenda for Monday night. Therefore, if the City Council approves the consent agenda with no changes, the rezoning request will be denied.
The reasoning for denying the request is due to the proposed rezoning falling out of line with the city's comprehensive land use plan, which recommends high-density residential development for the property.
Also on the consent agenda for Monday night is an item awarding a contract to VHB of Raleigh to conduct a parking study on the downtown area to determine which areas have enough parking, which areas need more parking, whether or not traffic flow is being managed adequately and how to pursue constructing more options for parking in the recently renovated downtown area should they be required.
The value of the contract is $80,000, but the North Carolina Department of Transportation will fund 80 percent of the cost of the contract and pay $64,000 for the study. The remaining $16,000 will be paid by the city.
The consultant for the parking study -- VHB of Raleigh -- was selected by a committee made up of Assistant City Manager Randy Guthrie, Downtown Goldsboro development Corp. Director Julie Metz, Assistant Planning Director Jennifer Collins, City Traffic Engineer Bobby Croom and NCDOT Transportation Engineer II Dominique Boyd.
VHB of Raleigh was selected as the top candidate from four consultants that submitted proposals to the city that would have awarded them the contract to conduct the parking study downtown.
With the passing of the consent agenda on Monday night the council would also approve a request received by the city to establish a no parking zone on Park Avenue for the section of road that stretches from North William Street to North Daisy Street. This is the section of road that runs alongside the House of Fordham where those in need line up to receive food from the House of Fordham when food is distributed.
The reasoning for this request is that vehicles are allegedly parking on both sides of the section of street in question and preventing a two-way flow of traffic. It is not clear who made the request to the city to create a no parking zone.
Also on the consent agenda for Monday night is an item authorizing a contract in the amount of $776,390.75 for the purpose of building a 10-foot multi-use path along New Hope Road, and it will be awarded to Lanier Construction of Snow Hill.
Of the $776,390.75 needed for the contract to build the path, $525,000 will come from the multi-use path enhancement fund in the city planning department budget, and an additional $300,000 will come from a supplemental agreement between the city and the NCDOT that was signed in December 2015. A budget ordinance will be approved at Monday night's meeting to allow the appropriation of the $300,000.
The city is also expected to approve the sale of city owned property at the council meeting Monday night.
St. Matthews AME Zion Church has offered the city $1,435 to purchase property located at 901 Greenleaf St. The property's tax value is $2,870, meaning St. Matthews AME Zion Church will be paying exactly half of the property's tax value to acquire the real estate.
Lastly, the City Council is expected to authorize an expenditure of $30,000 from the city's unassigned fund balance to enter a contract with MeterSys for the design and procurement of services for advanced metering technologies for the city's water meter reading system.
The City Council work session begins at 5 p.m. in the City Hall annex in room 206, and the regular council meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the council chambers of City Hall.