ASHEBORO – The City of Asheboro is aiming for a summer reopening of the playground area at the Zoo City Sportsplex.
At its April meeting, the council approved a $200,000 allocation for needed repairs to the playground.
“Basically what we had were drains that were stopped up and a compaction issue,” city manager Donald Duncan said. “So we’re going to go back, remove some of the equipment, kind of do a surgical operation in place, repair the equipment and compact and solidify the area to get it back in service.”
Barring any setbacks, the reopening is anticipated for the middle of June, Duncan said.
“As someone who has been vocal in the past about the way some things have gone, I think this process to repair has been very thorough,” council member Joey Trogdon said. “All avenues were examined and as much as nobody likes to spend money on something they’ve already done, we also have a lot of little folks in town that really like it and I think this is the quickest and best remedy for the situation.”
The actual contract with Bliss Products is approximately $150,000.
The board also approved a $46,000 allocation from the general fund to assist in the purchase of a mobile bathroom shower trailer.
Duncan mentioned an immediate use for the trailer as being utilized for umpires at the ballpark, but also noted how the trailer could be a valuable asset for disaster response and the like.
The council also held two public hearings, with the first being for the consideration of approximately $120,000 in funding appropriation to be utilized for land acquisition.
“The funding is for the costs associated with the acquisition for a single parcel of land at 1900 South Fayetteville St.,” said Kevin Franklin, president of the Randolph County Economic Development Corporation. “The purpose of the acquisition of this property is to provide future access to a rail-served site that can be made available on the other side of the site.”
“In the city of Asheboro, we don’t have a lot of industrial sites,” mayor David Smith said. “We have hardly any. All the sites that are developable are outside the city limits in other parts of the county, so here’s one that has rail, water and sewer, gas and is already zoned for industrial use. It’s perfect for a small to medium-sized prospect.”
The council also held a public hearing for a rezoning request for 1.5 acres of property located at 411 and 441 North McCrary St. to change the zoning to a conditional zoning for the construction of five duplex-style dwellings.
The council approved both requests following the hearings.
The board also approved seven contracts with six companies (C&S Chemicals, Trinity Manufacturing, Univar USA, CITCO Water, Chemrite and Polytec) for the annual procurement of chemicals at a per-gallon and per-tonnage rate as needed for operations at the water treatment plants.
The Asheboro City Council will next meet May 8.
