ASHEBORO – The Asheboro City Council met Thursday, August 10, with a variety of property and budgetary matters on the agenda.
The council held a public hearing to rezone property located at 148 and 159 North Street from I2, B3 and B2 to OA6.
“It is actually the city that has filed this application for city-owned property,” said Community Development Director Trevor Nuttall. “This, of course, is the former Acme property that the city purchased at the end of last year. It’s currently mostly zoned I2 general district industrial, which is consistent with the historical operations of the property, but there is also some general commercial designation on the property and a very small amount of B3 commercial designation as well.”
According to Nuttall, the rezoning is simply a preliminary step, and more specific plans will be brought before the council in the future for the development of the property.
“A primary interest of the city when we acquired the property was to ensure future development compliments the ongoing revitalization happening downtown,” Nuttall said. “We don’t believe future industrial use of the property would support that objective, so it is in our best interest to get it out of that district prior to any conveyance of that property.”
Following the hearing, the council approved the request.
The council then approved a resolution in support of improvements to NC Highway 42, specifically on the safety and functionality of West Salisbury Street as the roadway merges with Lexington Road west of Interstate 73/74.
“The first step to get something implemented along these lines is to have a project created, and the NCDOT is the only one that can establish that,” said Mayor Pro Tem Walker Moffit. “So the projects originate from these planning organizations. It has to be birthed first, and the primary way that sort of thing happens when a governing body has an interest in a project is that we pass a resolution of support for it, and then it’s introduced to the DOT and hopefully gets on the STIP program.”
The council also approved a change order between the City of Asheboro and Simcon Company, LLC for additional electrical work on the 80’x80’ corporate hangar totaling $5,204, of which the county is only responsible for $520.40.
The council then approved a proposed budget ordinance amendment for the acquisition of three tracts of land that will be used for future improvements at McCrary Ballpark.
The cost for the property, which is located on McCrary Street, totals out to $195,000.
The council also approved an amendment to Section 51.37 of the Code of Asheboro and the 2023-2024 annual operating budget to establish a tipping fee rate at the city’s solid waste transfer station for the City of Randleman at $38.00 per ton.
Currently, Asheboro and Randleman are the only Randolph County municipalities that provide their waste services rather than contracting them out. With this agreement, the two municipalities add together their tonnage, which results in Randleman paying less in total, but that paid amount will go to Asheboro rather than Waste Management, so both sides benefit.
“This will be a savings for the City of Randleman, and our board wanted to convey their thanks,” said Randleman Interim City Manager Greg Patton. “It will also save us a lot of wear and tear on our new vehicles, so we’re looking forward to working in conjunction again on a project that will benefit us all.”
Finally, the council approved an annexation request for 9.821 acres of land located at the intersection of Crestview Church Road and Zoo Parkway to be added into the corporate limits of the City of Asheboro following a public hearing and set a public hearing date of September 7 for two additional annexation requests.
The first is for 1.34 acres of property located at the end of Kelly Circle, and the second is for 1.112 acres of property located along W.O.W. Road.
The Asheboro City Council will next meet September 7.
