ASHEBORO – The Asheboro City Council met for its monthly meeting last week with quite a busy agenda.
The council first held three legislative hearings with the first being for an application to apply initial city zoning on more than 2,200 acres of NC Zoological Park and NC Zoological Society property recently annexed into the city limits.
“The property was relatively recently annexed into the city limits by an act of the General Assembly and under state law, the city has to apply city zoning to all property within its jurisdiction,” assistant city manager Trevor Nuttall said.
Nuttall said the property will be divided into two zonings: Low-Density Residential (R40) for the more rural or vacant areas and City Tourism and Hospitality for the areas that are actively used as part of the zoo’s operations or are of close proximity to the zoo.
The second hearing was to rezone 0.7 acres of property located at 223 Brewer St. from Office-Apartment (OA6) to Medium-Density Residential (R7.5).
The final hearing was to rezone 61 acres of property located at the western terminus of Ferrari Drive and northwest of Old Humble Mill Road from general zoning (R40) to a conditional zoning for the purpose of developing a 21-lot manufactured home park.
“As we look 20 years down the road and probably even less than that, as this county grows by 100,000 people, this is an area where we’re going to develop and we need to look down the road,” council member Eddie Burks said. “This will be contiguous at some point. It’s going to happen because this is one of the few areas in which we can grow our city.”
The council also held a public hearing for the allocation of $20,000 to Downtown Asheboro Inc. for the PRESERVE Asheboro grant program.
“Asheboro is a designated North Carolina Main Street Community and what that means is that we’re dedicated to economic development through historic preservation,” said Addie Corder, Downtown Development manger. “We would not have this wonderful asset here in our backyard if we flattened it, built a mall and tried to recreate it. So the purpose of this is to encourage thoughtful preservation as economic development in our downtown district.”
Corder said the purpose of the grant is to encourage downtown property owners to leverage a historic preservation consultant to help them get through the state and federal paperwork that would potentially be a barrier to historic preservation.
Following the hearings, the council approved each item.
The council also authorized city staff to prepare an agreement with NCDOT for approximately $587,000 in Carbon Reduction Program grant funding in regards to the proposed Zoo City Loop.
“This is one-time funding to help with startup costs for the service,” Nuttall said. “The funding will be used to purchase four electric light vehicles. Those are what are necessary when the city is ready to start the Zoo City Loop fixed route service.”
Nuttall said the city will have to contribute local funds as well and the anticipated annual cost of the service would be around $200,000.
“Once we initiate it, those ongoing operational costs will be there and will be steady moving forward,” Nuttall said.
The city would partner with Randolph Senior Adults Association for this project if the council decides to go through with the final agreement.
In addition, the council approved a $650,000 loan for a 48-unit multifamily affordable housing development for the elderly titled Memorial Square.
Finance director Deborah Reaves said the loan has a 4% interest rate with payments of $26,000 annually and a maturity date of Dec. 31, 2046.
The Asheboro City Council will next meet Nov. 7.
