City Council to hold public hearing on proposed bar
By Anessa Myers
Published in News on December 16, 2007 2:07 AM
Superior Court Judge Jerry Braswell will see what the public has to say Monday night about a possible bar operating on his property.
Goldsboro City Council will hold a public hearing for rezoning of the property located on the west side of South Slocumb Street between Olivia Lane and Wilmington Avenue from neighborhood business to general business conditional district.
The new zoning would allow for a proposed "place of entertainment with ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) permits," or what Braswell describes on his proposal to the council as a "jazz and blues club."
The site is currently occupied by a building that holds a laundromat, beauty salon and grill. With the new zoning, the bar would occupy the area where the salon was and would only operate when the grill and coin-operated laundry are closed.
The existing building area is 7,605 square feet with 647 square feet of that area proposed for the "place of entertainment." The bar would also include five tables with two chairs each and would be open from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday through Sunday.
The intended audience for the bar is adults 30 and older.
Braswell's proposal also states that the Goldsboro Community Development Office previously approved two separate loans to help the owner develop this project "so that the blighted conditions that had existed at this location could be removed and a positive image could be restored to encourage and enhance economic development in an area that had seen years of steady decline."
Braswell has said he has nothing in the proposed project, which was denied by the city Planning Commission at their last meeting.
"I own the building, but I lease it out," he said. "I have no set plans as to what will exactly be there. From my understanding, it's just a lounge area, but it's nothing that I will be operating."
Planning officials said they believe the intent is to make the building a sort of higher class cigar bar.
"From my understanding, Braswell wants it to be a place where professionals can come and have a drink after work," said Sally Johnson, administrative assistant in the city planning and community development department.
Council will hold another public hearing at its meeting Monday regarding a street name designation.
A 545-foot long section of Salem Church Road was abandoned with the realignment of the road in the vicinity of Fedelon Trail, and one resident along that section has maintained a Salem Church Road street address but has problems with mail delivery.
Relatives of the resident have expressed concern about rescue personnel having difficulty finding the address since it is no longer on Salem Church Road.
The resident has requested that the street section be designated as Salem Hill Lane.
Council is also expected to condemn three dilapidated structures.
The buildings are located at 907 Aycock St., 404/406 N. Kornegay St. and 407 S. William St. City officials say none of the structures is feasible for repair.
Final chance letters were sent to the owners of the properties, but none of the conditions to keep the houses from condemnation were met.
In other business, council will discuss consent agenda items including an amendment to the police budget; annual certification for membership in the state's firemen's and rescue squad worker's pension fund; emergency repairs at the water reclamation facility; sale of city-owned surplus property; revision of site, landscape and building elevation plans for the AT&T Call Center; appropriation of funds for unemployment compensation benefits claims; a new inspections position; rescheduling of 2008 council meetings due to holidays; and departmental reports.