Is city getting another eatery?
By Ty Johnson
Published in News on March 18, 2012 1:50 AM
Two public hearings are scheduled for the Goldsboro City Council meeting Monday as the city is considering two rezoning requests.
One hearing will concern the rezoning of 1.27 acres on the southeast corner of North Berkeley Boulevard and Ridgecrest Drive where the property owner requests the zoning be changed from office and institutional to neighborhood business conditional district.
Faison and Associates, which owns Berkeley Mall, is representing the prospective owner of the property according to a letter included in the council's agenda packet. The letter lists three scenarios for the property which include a 10,000-square-foot retail building, a combined use building containing a 4,000-square foot retail facility and up to 5,500 square feet of space for a full-service sit-down restaurant serving alcoholic beverages or a similar restaurant of up to 7,500 square feet of space.
In the letter, Faison notes that it played an active role in bringing two Darden Restaurants establishments to the city recently. Darden's brands include Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, which recently began constructing restaurants on two outparcels of Berkeley Mall. Other Darden restaurants include Bahama Breeze, Red Lobster and The Capital Grille.
The other public hearing will be on Wayne County's rezoning request for its recently acquired property on the northeast corner of East Ash and Claiborne streets. The property was previously the location of Sportsman's World.
The county wishes to amend the property's acceptable uses to include governmental services on aging activities and associated office uses. The county has said it plans to move its Services for the Aging offices to the new location. The proposal contains floor plans that show the county will outfit the largest of the buildings to serve the area's senior citizen community with exercise and fitness rooms, a computer laboratory and craft space.
Both hearings will be held during the council's regular meeting in Historic City Hall which begins at 7 p.m.
Also slated for discussion Monday night is the council's consent agenda, which contains an ordinance prohibiting registered sex offenders from entering any parks and recreation facility operated or maintained by the city unless the site is a polling place or the venue for an official meeting. Should the act violate one of the various state laws prohibiting certain activities by sex offenders in parks, the perpetrator will be punished according to that law, not the ordinance, which dictates violations result in class 3 misdemeanors.
An additional consent agenda item contains an amendment to city ordinance 151.07. The ordinance concerns the establishment of the city's flood hazard areas and the amendment will remove verbiage concerning revision to the flood maps from 2005.
The consent agenda also contains a recommendation to accept a bid for lead-based paint abatement and housing rehabilitation for property located at 500 E. Elm St. The lowest of two bids came from Dudley Construction of Tarboro at $51,935. The contract will be paid using the city's HOME Partnership Investment funds.
The council will also schedule a hearing on the closing of Poplar Street between Newsome Street and its end. Trustees for New Stoney Hill Church requested the closing of the alley. The hearing is expected to be held April 16.
A budget ordinance allowing the Police Department to accept federal drug forfeiture funds and departmental reports round out the consent agenda.
Presentations scheduled for the council's work session, scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall Annex, include one concerning street resurfacing priorities throughout the city, a property easement downtown and a think tank formed between East Carolina University and the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp.