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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary_16_2007_Regular_MinutesIREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MINUTES JANUARY 16, 2007 The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met in Regular Session on Tuesday, January 16, 2007, at 7:00 P.M., in the Iredell County Government Center (Commissioners' Meeting Room), 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC. Present were: Chairman Marvin Norman Vice Chairman Sara Haire Tice Steve Johnson Ken Robertson Godfrey Williams Staff present: County Manager Joel Mashburn, County Attorney Bill Pope, Deputy County Manager Susan Blumenstein, and Clerk to the Board Jean Moore. CALL TO ORDER by Chairman Norman INVOCATION by Commissioner Johnson PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ADJUSTMENTS OF THE AGENDA: MOTION by Commissioner Tice to approve the agenda adjustments as follows: Deletions: • Presentation from Steve Mains and Diana Stumpf, District Veteran Service Officers with the North Carolina Division of Veterans Affairs (Hickory, NC), on behalf of Governor Mike Easley, of a Memorial Plaque containing a North Carolina Flag and Letter from Governor Easley to Mrs. Summer Lipford, Mother, and Other Family Members of Private First Class Steven F. Sirko (This item was delayed until a later date. The State Veterans Office was unable to locate a certified interpreter to attend the meeting which was a spec fc request of the Sirko family.) • Closed Session / Personnel — G.S. 143-318.11 (a) (6) VOTING: Ayes — 5; Nays — 0. Presentation of Service Plaques to Iredell County Retirees: Chief Deputy Rick Dowdle said Retiree James Alston had served in the position of Lt. Supervisor longer than any other sworn officer for Sheriff Redmond. He said Retiree Phil Hollar had served admirably as an evidence custodian and both gentlemen had many notable accomplishments. Alston, an employee for nearly 29 years, and Hollar, an employee with 26 years of service, were presented with appreciation plaques by Chairman Norman and thanked for their exemplary service. Note: Peggy Alexander, a Health Department retiree, was also scheduled to receive a plaque; however, she was unable to attend the meeting. ----------------------------------------------CONSENT AGENDA -------------------------------------------- items. OT10N by Commissioner Johnson to approve the following eight consent agenda VOTING: Ayes — 5; Nays — 0. Note: All items were explained during the 5 o'clock briefing. 1. Request from the Mooresville Graded School District (MGSD) to use $100,000 for the Design Phase of a New School and to Add $146,863 Towards Mobile Unit Set Up: MGSD Finance Officer David Dutton said $246,863 was allocated to the school system on December 19 and the funds were from taxes and financing proceeds in excess of the FY 05-06 budgeted amounts. He said $100,000 would be added to the "Design Phase of a New School" line item for the Certificates of Participation (COPS) issue. Mr. Dutton said $146,863 would be added to "Mobile Unit Set Up" line item due to the need to add a nine -classroom -mega unit at South Elementary School. He said the South Elementary site (14 acres) limited the location of the new unit, and it would have to be situated behind an existing five -classroom -mega unit. Dutton continued by saying some funds would pay for grading and soil compaction, along with the relocation of the kindergarten play area/equipment. 2. Request from the Town of Troutman for Iredell County to Petition for Voluntary Annexation of Two Parcels Deeded to Iredell County: Troutman Town Manager David Saleeby said annexation plans were proceeding, and two contiguous properties to the corporate limits were identified as belonging to Iredell County. He said the first property (PIN# 4732-31- 0134) was located at 299 Old Mountain Road, and it was South Iredell High School property. Saleeby said the property was contiguous to the Town's limits, and if annexed, it would allow a path to extend north of the school (Old Mountain Road) towards the new water lines. Mr. Saleeby said the second parcel (PIN# 4741-04-3085) was situated at 305 Rumple Street, and it was the Troutman Middle School which was already within the corporate limits with the exception of a small piece of the property located southwest of the school. He said the town already had a sewer pump located on part of the property. 3. Request for Approval of a Resolution Authorizing the Awarding of Badges & the Sale of Service Sidearms to Retirees James Alston and Phil Hollar: Chief Deputy Rick Dowdle requested approval of the following resolution. RESOLUTION REGARDING THE BADGE AND SIDEARM OF DEPUTIES JAMES ALSTON AND PHIL HOLLAR WHEREAS, Deputies James Alston and Phil Hollar have served honorably in the Iredell County Sheriff's Office and have successfully met the requirements for retirement, and do, upon the occasion of their respective retirements, request that they be permitted to keep their badge and to purchase their service sidearm. NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, by the Board of Commissioners of Iredell County, that said badges be awarded to Deputies Alston and Hollar at no charge and that each be allowed to purchase his sidearm for the sum of One Dollar ($1.00), as provided by G.S. 20-187.2. Two (2) Glock Model 22 Alston - Serial # ALF320 Hollar - Serial # EV V366 4. Request from the Sheriffs Department for Approval of Budget Amendment #26 to Appropriate Fund Balance Reserved for Commissary and Seized Funds: Chief Deputy Rick Dowdle requested a budget amendment to appropriate $68,530 from commissary fund balance/reserved, along with $12,000 from drug enforcement fund balance/reserved to (1) complete the building expansion project (2) provide furnishings (3) provide a door lock system for the Domestic Violence Unit (4) complete the interview room camera system and (5) purchase a bar code labeling system to safeguard evidence. Additional information is as follows: $36,000 to place walkways (including a covered walkway to sheriffs office) & a covering on the building's front entrance $ 6,670 for a Domestic Violence Door Lock System (will use card -swipe system) $12,000 for evidence bar code system $ 6,530 for camera system for Domestic Violence Unit $19,330 for furnishings $80,530 5. Request for Approval of the December 2006 Refunds and Releases: Tax Administrator Bill Doolittle requested approval of the following refunds and releases. DECEMBER 2006 TAX RELEASES & REFUNDS Releases Refunds County 27,513.26 7.68 Solid Waste Fees 52.00 0 2 East Alexander Co. Fire #1 0 0 Shepherd's Fire # 2 99.02 0 Mount Mourne Fire # 3 14.76 0 All County Fire # 4 1,153.12 .83 Statesville City 6,217.42 167.51 Statesville Downtown 0 0 Mooresville Town 9,302.38 0 Mooresville Downtown 3.77 0 Mooresville School 2,329.40 0 Love Valley 0 0 Harmony 1.98 0 Troutman 57.41 0 Total $46,744.52 $176.02 A complete list, of the individual tax releases and refunds, is hereby incorporated into the minutes by reference. 6. Request for Approval of a Contract for Oblique Photography and Change Detection with MultiVision USA & Authorization for the County Manager to Sign the Same: Tax Administrator Bill Doolittle said Greenman Pedersen, Inc. (owners of MultiVision USA), had presented a $218,000 contract for the production/delivery of oblique aerial photography and the change detection for 25,000 buildings. Doolittle said the 480 gigabytes of information would be used through 2010 when updates would be needed for the 2011 reappraisal. He said the company would provide nine flyovers, at four different directions, and the contract would be "piggybacked" off one originating in Mecklenburg County. Doolittle said oblique photography was taken at a 45° angle while ortho photography was done by pointing the camera straight down. He said the photography would occur in February, when the trees were bare, and "compressed versions" of the photos would be available for the sheriffs department, other emergency agencies, and developers. 7. Request for Approval of an Amendment to the DSS Building Capital Project Fund Ordinance: Deputy County Manager Susan Blumenstein said that due to additional revenues being realized from interest earnings, refunds from sales taxes, and grant reimbursements for the social services building projects, an ordinance amendment was needed. She said the amendment recognized savings realized in certain items of expenditure including professional services and construction contracts. She said a portion of the total savings was being used to pay for the upfitting of unused space (gray space) that would be converted into 20 new offices and to purchase furnishings/equipment. Blumenstein said the amendment would also reflect that $108,800 of unused funds would be transferred to the Capital Reserve Fund for future use. Be it Ordained by the Board of County Commissioners of Iredell County, North Carolina: Section I. Funds for this Capital Project Fund will be provided from the following source: Existing 1/16/2007 Amended Ordinance Amendment Ordinance Advance from Capital Reserve Fund to be repaid upon receipt of financing proceeds $ 434,300 - $ 434,300 Interest on Investments 56,860 47,000 103,860 Sales Taxes Reimbursed on building materials & FF&E 133,100 16,900 150,000 DSS Federal & State Grant Reimbursements 100,765 80,720 181,485 Advance from General Fund 50,000 - 50,000 Financing Proceeds 6,671 075 6.671,075 $ 7,446,100 144,620 $ 7,590,720 Section 2. The following costs for the design and engineering of the Iredell County Existing 01/16/2007 Amended Department of Social Services Facility shall be paid by this fund: Ordinance Amendment Ordinance Basic A/E Fees & Consultants $ 345,300 3,288 S 348,588 Professional Services -Other (Survey, Geotechnical, Reimbursibles Dara / Communications / Security 151,805 (97,162) 54,643 General 4,339,975 (5,496) 4,334,479 Plumbing 181,500 (4,550) 17050 3 Mechanic Electrical Contingency Construction Costs -Sewer Construction Costs -Other Depreciable Assets Financing & Admin Costs Transfer to Capital Reserve Fund Transfer to General Fund Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment (LGC Fee, Legal Fees, Title Ins, Bank Fees) 674,400 (21,017) 653,383 633,850 (25,241) 608,609 5,817 (5,817) 39,240 - 39,240 42,323 197,677 240,000 464,230 1,770 466,000 26,500 (7,632) 18,868 434,300 108,800 543,100 106.860 106.860 $ 7,446,100 144,620 S 7,590,720 Section 3. This Capital Project Fund shall continue until the project is complete. Section 4. The County Manager is authorized to transfer funds from Contingency to other expenditure line items with a report to the board of commissioners at their next meeting. Section 5. Payments from this Capital Project Fund shall be authorized by the County Manager or his designee. 8. Request for Approval of the January 2, 2007 Minutes Request from Morrison Plantation, LLC/Carolina Income Management Group, LLC (J. Edward Kale, Principal) for the Release of Zoning/Subdivision Jurisdiction to the Town of Mooresville for 20.89 Acres: Acting Planning Director Steve Warren reviewed the following staff report for this request. OWNER: Morrison Plantation, LLC 1400 Harding Place Charlotte, NC 28204 LOCATION: Lineberger Drive, in Mooresville, NC, more specifically PIN#s 4637-75-0571, 4637-750351, 4637 -75 -0105,4637 -75 -1053,4637 -74 -1914,4637 -74 -0883,4637 -74-0753,4637- 74-0624,463774-0503,4637-64-9474,4637-64-8736, 4637-64-8071, 4637-64-5442, 4637-64- 6676, 4637-65-6037, 4637-65-6354, & 4637-64-6802. Directions: Doolie Road, left Lineberger, at the end. REQUESTED ACTION AND CONDITIONS: Release Zoning and Subdivision Jurisdiction to the Town of Mooresville. PROPOSED USE: Residential and Commercial uses as part of Morrison Plantation with a CUMU zoning designation, which is the current zoning in Morrison Plantation. SIZE: The proposed area to be rezoned is 20.89 acres. EXISTING ZONING: The property is currently zoned Residential Agricultural. EXISTING LAND USE: Residential. SURROUNDING LAND USE: Vacant and residential. WATERSHED REGULATIONS: This property is located in the WS IV -CA Watershed. TRAFFIC: There are no traffic counts for Lineberger Drive or the roads in Morrison Plantation. ZONING HISTORY: This property has been zoned RA since county wide zoning in 1990. STAFF COMMENTS: This request meets the criteria for a release of zoning and subdivision jurisdiction. The proposed use of the property for residential and commercial uses requires water and sewer from the Town of Mooresville. Mooresville has agreed to the extension of water and sewer to these parcels and will consider the property for annexation in June of 2007. The recommended uses for this area in the County Land Use Plan are residential. Although commercial uses are part of the plan, Morrison Plantation is a mixed use development, which will not diminish the intent of the County Land Use Plan, if released. 4 Commissioner Robertson asked if the plan to extend the Plantation Ridge Parkway all the way to the property was binding, or if it had been only verbally committed. Warren said to his knowledge it was only verbal. He said, however, this would be the practical solution for access because the Plantation Ridge Parkway stubbed out not too far from the subject tract. Commissioner Williams noted the property was in a county residential agricultural district, and this had a 30,000 sq. ft. lot stipulation. Warren said the county would be developing it under that density, but Mooresville would have a much higher density, especially with the developer proposing multi -family in addition to single-family detached. Commissioner Williams said that instead of one and one-half per acre there could be as many as five per acre. Warren said this was possible. Commissioner Johnson said he understood Mooresville had already approved the extension of water sewer, and the applicant had petitioned for voluntary annexation. Warren said this was correct. Chairman Norman asked Mr. Warren when Mooresville might annex. Warren said the Mooresville officials had indicated June of 2007. Commissioner Tice said even if the commissioners failed to approve the release, it would not be binding, because if the Town annexed the property in June, it would be effective anyway. She said the county commissioners could delay the release, but the request met the release criteria, and similar releases had been approved. J. Edward Kale, the developer, said the extension plan had already been submitted to the Town of Mooresville. OTION by Commissioner Tice to approve the request from Morrison Plantation, LLC/Carolina Income Management Group, LLC (J. Edward Kale, Principal) for the Release of Zoning/Subdivision Jurisdiction to the Town of Mooresville for 20.89 Acres. Commissioner Johnson said he shared concerns about approving the request; however, it needed to be noted that the Lineberger Road was not in the best of condition. He said at some point, after improvements, the road would become a cut -through to Dooley Road, and this would eliminate some of the Brawley School Road traffic that took Hwy 150 to Williamson Road and then on to the high school. Commissioner Williams said the residents would probably not appreciate that type of cut - through to the high school Mr. Williams said consistency was needed. He said the board members always voiced concerns about having to build new schools, but when these types of releases were requested, most of the time they were approved. Williams said even though annexation might occur in five months, this would at least delay housing construction for this length of time and the need for more schools. VOTING: Ayes -4; Nays— I (Williams) APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS & COMMISSIONS Board of Health (1 appointment): MOTION by Commissioner Robertson to postpone this appointment until the February 6 meeting. VOTING: Ayes — 5; Nays — 0. Adult Care Home Community Advisory Committee (6 appointments): MOTION by Commissioner Tice to postpone the six appointments until the February 6 meeting. VOTING: Ayes — 5; Nays — 0. 5 Nursing Home Advisory Committee (3 appointments): MOTION by Chairman Norman to postpone the three appointments until the February 6 meeting. VOTING: Ayes — 5; Nays — 0. Future Forward Economic Alliance Board (1 appointment): Commissioner Tice nominated David Johnson. OTION by Chairman Norman to close the nominations and appoint David Johnson by acclamation. VOTING: Ayes — 5; Nays — 0. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD Buddy Hemric spoke against the Iredell-Statesville School System's proposal to utilize the former Dana Corporation Property for educational purposes. Hemric cited several reasons why the industrial site would be an unfavorable choice for a school, and some of these were (1) the environmental clean up costs would be prohibitive (2) the industrial area had numerous tractor trailers traveling in the vicinity and (3) the site is off I-77 where hazardous materials are trucked in - and -out daily. Mr. Hemric said the 100 -acre site would be too large for one school, and he questioned how the other property would be used. Hemric requested for the board of commissioners to vote unfavorably towards placing a school in the area, and instead, to recruit an industry to occupy the site. Skip Weber, spoke and requested for the board of commissioners to ask the Planning Board to "Re -think" the Growth Management Report. Weber said the planning board would meet on January 24 to finalize the document, and it would then be submitted to the board of commissioners. Weber said members of a community organization, also studying the growth issues, were "extremely disappointed by the content of the draft study." He said the planning board had ignored many of the recommendations made during the public meetings and had failed to make substantive recommendations that would have a favorable impact on the Brawley School Road and the Perth Road in any "rational timeframe." COUNTY MANAGER'S REPORT: County Manager Mashburn distributed an activity report and noted that it included a draft agenda for the Winter Planning Session. Mr. Mashburn requested that the board members review the agenda and share any concerns or suggestions. He said a portion of retreat time would be devoted to reviewing state and federal legislation, and the subsequent impact on local government budgets. Conditional Use District Rezonings: Commissioner Johnson said the restrictions disallowing the commissioners to discuss conditional use rezonings was a topic that could be discussed with the legislators at the retreat. Johnson said he had already talked to some General Assembly members and had informed them about the difficulty in making informed zoning decisions when the board members couldn't discuss the cases. NEW BUSINESS Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) Zoning Releases: Commissioner Williams mentioned concerns about ETJ requests. He said the method being used, in accordance with the General Statutes, didn't require public hearings, but sometimes, adjoining property owners were affected. Williams said the adjoining property owners, under the county's jurisdiction, had to cope with the actions of municipal planning boards when releases occurred. He said a method was needed whereby adjacent property owners could share their concerns rather than arbitrarily releasing the county's jurisdiction to a developer. Mr. Williams suggested that the planning staff draft an ordinance and for it to be available for discussion at the Winter Planning Session. He said the Mooresville officials had also mentioned concerns, and they could address the issue at the same time. Interim Planning Director Steve Warren said he staff would have sufficient time to draft the ordinance before the Winter Planning Session. 6 MOTTO by Commissioner Williams to request the staff to draft an ordinance proposal that would grant adjacent property owners an opportunity to be heard prior to the release of zoning/subdivision jurisdiction to another governmental unit. VOTING: Ayes — 5; Nays — 0. Comments by Commissioner Johnson Regarding a Recent Newspaper Article: Commissioner Johnson offered an apology in regards to an article appearing in the Statesville Record & Landmark about compassionate conservatives. His remarks are as follows. " I offer an apology in the course of public discourse. I should not have used that language, and I apologize. However, I want you to understand the statement was borne out of a lifetime of frustration from what 1 consider to be a deeply held belief of mine in what has become in my opinion a perversion of Christian charity. If I read the New Testament properly, the commandments to help the poor and those less fortunate arc personal commandments, they are not governmental mandates. While 1 do offer this apology, I would like to say that I am a compassionate conservative in the historical, biblical perspective, but 1 am not compassionate conservative in a contemporary political perspective, which it directly related to the $27 trillion of unfunded liabilities for future generations. This was the origin of my statement But, I would also like to take issue with those who have been critical -- when they say that folks like me are against progress. What progress do their collectivist ideas give other than the fact that they progressively call upon greater sacrifices by productive people in this society and only to have the fruits of their labors taken from them and given to those segments of the economy which do not produce. If'you would like further reading, you could read Hoyek's book, The Road to Serfdom. To all conservative friends 1 will loan it to you,for free, for my liberal friends, you must may a deposit because I have watched you handle other- peoples' money all of my life, and I do not trust you. Thank you Mr. Chairman. " ADJOURNMENT: MOTION by Commissioner Tice to adjourn the meeting at 7:45 p.m. (NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, February 6, 2007, at 5 and 7 p.m., in the Iredell County Government Center, 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC.) VOTING: Ayes — 5; Nays — 0. Approved: 7 Clerk to the Board