County moves on with new Senior Center
By Steve Herring
Published in News on March 21, 2012 1:46 PM
Wayne County commissioners with little fanfare Tuesday morning approved a $1.25 million budget ordinance for the new Senior Center, names for dead-end roads created by the U.S. 70 Bypass project and applying for $400,000 for a scattered site housing grant.
No one from the public spoke during the separate public hearings for the road names and application for the Community Development Block grant.
The budget ordinance will allow work to begin on the county's new Senior Center.
County Manager Lee Smith noted that the project, which is expected to be completed by fall, will span two budget years. Establishing a budget ordinance allows the project to proceed with requiring the board to approve budget amendments each year.
The board last month approved a $1.2 million contract for the Senior Center with the design-build team of Daniels and Daniels Construction of Goldsboro and Dunn and Dalton Architects of Kinston.
The center will be housed in the former Sportsman's World building that the county purchased along with two outlying buildings last May for about $1.5 million.
Design-build is a team approach that includes the architect/engineer and contractor working together on a project from design to construction.
The new center will replace the older, cramped facilities at the current downtown center.
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Consultant David Harris of RSM Harris Associates told commissioners that the county had received hundreds of applications for the scattered site housing program
The list has been narrowed to four and two alternates. All but one of the four are female heads of households, he said.
Criteria include low-income and homeowners with special needs in terms of the elderly, handicapped or large family, Harris said. The objective was to find the families with the greatest needs, including greatest housing need, he said. In some cases that means a house requiring major renovations or even replacement.
Three of the units are either single- or double-wide mobile homes. One is a frame-built house. All will be replaced with houses of comparable value.
Harris said the county worked with its small towns since municipalities are not eligible to apply on their own, but do fall under the county's umbrella.
Goldsboro was not eligible since it already receives federal housing assistance, he noted.
The $400,000 is all grant and no local match is required, Harris.
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The road names were for sections of North William Street and Tommy's Road that were left as dead-end roads by the U.S. 70 Goldsboro Bypass.
The new names are :
* North William Street from Belfast Road north approximately 315 feet to the dead end as Peanut Court
* North William Street from Belfast Road south approximately 350 feet to the dead end as O'Rourke Court
* Tommy's Road from U.S. 117 east approximately 2,900 feet to the dead end as Barden Scott Lane.
County Planner Connie Price told commissioners letters had been sent to all property owners along the affected sections of roads. There were no comments, he said.
The property owners will now be informed of the new names, Price said.
Fewer than a dozen addresses will be affected by the name changes, Price said. There are five or six households on what would become Barden Scott Lane and four on what would become Peanut Court.
There is one home on the proposed O'Rourke Court. However, the house is situated such that its address is actually Belfast Road, Price said.