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WALLACE — During a busy meeting Thursday night, the Wallace Town Council continued its discussion on ground-floor downtown apartments and ultimately decided not to move forward with an ordinance amendment that would have allowed ground-floor apartments in the downtown area.
The item has been on the council’s radar since April, when the council requested that Town Manager Rob Taylor and Planning Director Rod Fritz work on an ordinance amendment that would allow apartments on the ground floor of buildings.
Cameron Lee, planning board chairman, addressed the council and stated that the planning board has reviewed this request three times, and all three times, unanimously recommended denying the request.
Lee stated that the reasons the planning board recommended denial included access to utilities, garbage collection, parking, deliveries, and input from other downtown business owners, as well as other municipalities.
Lee stated that there are currently 39 planned apartments in the central business district (CBD). Allowing ground-floor apartments would bring that total to 59 available apartments, and would include one-story buildings like Family Dollar, Piggly Wiggly and the former A&P.
“I think we’re being a little anxious or impatient about residential development in and around Wallace,” Lee said. “Residential for Wallace is coming. It’s just a matter of getting the infrastructure in place.”
He reiterated that the planning board still recommended denying the request.
“I will say personally, this was very eye opening,” Council Member Jason Davis said.
Taylor then went into detail about what the proposed ordinance amendment would mean, including that all ground-floor apartments be situated at the rear of the building, in order “to preserve the commercial character at street level.” The developer would also have to provide two parking spaces for each apartment, with no parking allowed on Main Street.
“We’d also like them to do a little bit of improvement in the back of the alleys, some green space,” Taylor said.
Mayor Jason Wells stated that his feelings had changed about the proposed downtown apartments. “My problem is a fine line,” he said. “I love the idea of having some sort of ADA compliant apartment downstairs because we don’t have any. But it’s also got to be done the right way. This is so vague, it opens up a lot of places that we know we don’t want this.”
He added that he didn’t see any point in having a public hearing at the next meeting on the issue, because it wasn’t feasible at this time to have downtown ground-floor apartments.
“In my heart of hearts, I believe there’s a way to find ADA-compliant apartments and be able to get them downstairs without at the same time opening up a lot of things we don’t want,” he said. “But this isn’t it.”
2024-25 Budget Adopted
Another major item at the June 13 council meeting was the proposed 2024-25 budget, which included an 8.5% water/sewer rate hike, as well as a $15 fee for vehicles registered within the town limits. The vehicle tax would be added on to customers’ annual DMV tag fees.
The fiscal year 2024-25 budget totals $10.72 million, a 4.89% increase over last year’s budget, TTaylor said. There were no public comments during the public hearing on the budget, but the council discussed the $15 vehicle tax at length.
Council Member Jason Davis said he was still uncomfortable with the vehicle tax. After some consideration, Taylor said that the $15 fee would only generate about $40,000, an amount that could be recouped by financing a needed truck rather than purchasing it outright.
Davis motioned to approve the budget, with the vehicle tax removed and adding in the vehicle financing. His motion passed unanimously.
In other business at the June 13 Wallace Town Council meeting:
- During the public comment period, Edward Walker, who lives on Bray Street, complained of dozens of potholes on his street, and pointed out that a lot of the town’s streets need to be repaved. Linda Sikes also reported to the board that one of her tenants had their water turned off by the town and were not notified so they called a plumber. She submitted the plumber bill to the town for them to pay. Also during public comment, Sarah Caillar of Wolf Den Court stated that she wanted to make the town aware of discolored water at her house.
- The council approved a one-year hunting lease for Keith Mote, who requested to rent land at the airport. The lease is for 152.434 acres at a price of $8.50 an acre, totaling $1,295.69.
- The council approved its interlocal agreement with the town of Teachey for sewer service. The contract is in place for another 10 years.
- The council agreed to lease the Rose House by Boney Mill Pond for $1,000 a month.
- A capital project ordinance for road realignment at the airport was approved.
- The council continued the meeting until June 25 at 6 p.m.
