ASHEBORO – The City of Asheboro has enjoyed stable growth as of late, but it may have to start addressing concerns brought about by that growth.
At the Asheboro City Council’s Jan. 9 meeting, the council was presented with an initial look at the potential implementation of water and sewer system development fees for the city.
“Asheboro’s growing,” said Michael Rhoney, Water Resources director. “Growth is great, but with growth comes capacity issues.”
The city does not have water and sewer system development fees, but the implementation of them is structured as to not burden existing customers.
“These are charges imposed on each new customer development that generally offsets the incremental cost of replacing existing indoor new construction assets,” Rhoney said. “It also helps build capacity. We only have a set amount of capacity not only in our plants, but in our water distribution lines and our sewer lines. So we have to continue to build and expand capacity and this is a way for us to do that and meet the demands placed on our systems.”
According to Rhoney, these fees fund the construction of new water/sewer lines, treatment lines, pump stations and also would go toward upgrading the capacity of the existing systems.
Typically, these fees would fall on developers rather than individual citizens.
If the council chooses to pursue implementing these fees in the future, the city will have to first hire a consultant to create a plan, then hold a public hearing on that new plan and would then have to pass an ordinance/resolution adopting the fee schedule.
The council also held a public hearing for 0.8 acres of property located at 207 East Pritchard St. from Office-Apartment (OA6) to Mercantile (M).
“The distinction between the mercantile district and other commercial districts is that it limits the number of uses,” said John Evans, Community Development director. “So it takes out some of the more intense uses that would be permitted in a B2 district. Some examples would be auto-related uses, motor vehicle repair, sales of manufactured homes, bars and nightclubs. Those more intense uses you would find in B2 would not be permitted in the mercantile district.”
Following the hearing, the council approved the request.
Finally, the council authorized city personnel to conduct reviews, consultations and inspections necessary for the future acceptance of a roadway as part of the Pineview Homes Development Project.
“The proposal is for landowners at private expense, to make improvements to an existing driveway and area surrounding that driveway consistent with the city’s practices and our standards for public right of ways that could allow in the future for a public right-of-way to be accepted,” said assistant city manager Trevor Nuttall. “These improvements would enable what has been a previously reviewed and approved residential townhome project known as Pineview Homes to be developed with publicly maintained streets as originally contemplated.”
The Asheboro City Council will next meet Feb. 6.
