ASHEBORO – The City of Asheboro Council met Thursday where they finally made a decision in regards to the Downtown Asheboro Social District.
The debate on the creation of the Downtown Asheboro Social District continued from the last meeting and upon the conclusion of public comments, the council voted in favor of creating the district with one dissenting vote.
The social alcohol district will allow for the carry and consumption of alcohol in specially designated containers from Thursday to Saturday, 11am to 11pm, in the specified area.
“We as a council have listened impartially to each person and each concern,” said councilmember, Eddie Burks. “We try our best to represent everyone in Asheboro. And as much as every citizen has differing concerns on the well-being of our city, there are occasions where we simply cannot please every individual.”
The council heard comments from local pastors who didn’t want to see an increase of alcohol consumption in the community due to the moral qualms of alcohol abuse, but the council’s faith in the local business owners and the want for growth of the downtown area to support those business were some of the convincing factors for the council’s decision.
“What made me really come around… the people that live and work and spend time on Sunset, we know them and I trust that they’ll do the right thing,” said councilmember, Jane Redding. “I’ll put my faith in them.”
The council also stated that they had made adjustments in next year’s budget to allow for an increased police presence in the downtown area to help supervise and enforce the rules for the district.
The city council then continued another public hearing from last month’s meeting, this time for the proposed conditional rezoning request for a residential planned unit development project to the west of 2513 Old Cedar Falls Road.
“Following the April meeting, the applicant did submit revised plans to the city,” said Community Director Trevor Nuttall. “The new plan presents a total of 145 dwelling units, which is down from the 160 units that were proposed at the April meeting. The plan has also been revised so that each of those 145 units will have a two-car garage as well as space for two additional cars to be parked on each lot.”
The plan also featured a second entrance/exit that would be strictly for emergency vehicle access, although the roads in the development would still be privately owned and maintained by a homeowners association.
After the hearing, the council approved the rezoning request and the corresponding subdivision sketch design.
“Last month, the council continued this because we had a lot of concerns,” said Mayor David Smith. “Even with those, the applicant had met our requirements and regulations for what he was asking for. But he has taken our feedback and made additional changes.”
The council approved an application to place a block defined by South Church Street, Lanier Avenue, Hammer Avenue and West Kivett Street into an OA6 zoning district and for that whole block to be redeveloped into a 60-unit, multi-family development for the elderly.
The council also awarded an audit contract with their same auditor, William R. Honeycutt, CPA, PLLC, for $36,800, the same amount that was charged last year according to Finance Officer, Deborah Reaves.
“Our auditor has always done a good job in looking after us and has been reasonable about increases,” Reaves said. “He hasn’t done many increases while the workload that falls upon him increases quite a bit.”
The council then approved an ordinance to amend the general fund and utilize $1,282,300 for construction on Zoo City Sportsplex to finish Fields 2, 3 and 4, approved the annexation requests by Stephen Bryant, Kevin Douthit and Kathy Cavin for three parcels of land on Sterling Street into the corporate limits of the City of Asheboro and approved a contract to Simcon Company, LLC for $959,650 to construct a proposed 80-foot by 80-foot corporate hangar at the Asheboro Regional Airport.
The City of Asheboro council will next meet June 9.
