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The Rose Hill Board of Commissioners and Planning Board held a joint meeting and public hearing on Oct. 14 to again consider approving the town’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan, which is required by state statute for towns to have and enforce zoning ordinances. The proposed plan was originally presented to the commissioners and planning board at the Aug. 12 meeting, but approval was tabled to allow more public feedback on the plan and to make a requested change.
Ashli Barefoot of Insight Consulting Group in Wilmington, the group hired by the town to create the plan, again appeared before the boards to update them on progress since the Aug. 12 meeting when concern was expressed that an area of land targeted for recreational use along West Ridge Street was privately owned property that could be affected if landowners wanted to sell or develop the property. Barefoot said that the plan had been updated to remove the recreational designation and change that area to “medium high density.”
Barefoot also informed the boards that social media posts and flyers were used to encourage more public feedback on the plan, but that no additional feedback had been received.
During public comments, Barefoot was asked how long the plan would remain in effect.
She responded that the statute requires the plan to be “reasonably maintained,” while admitting it is ambiguous.
“Places grow at different rates and have different things going on,” Barefoot said. “Plans are typically done anywhere from a 10, 15, or 20-year time horizon. That’s how far forward we look.”
Both the Planning Board and the Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the Comprehensive Land Use Plan, which went into effect immediately.
In other business:
The board heard a report from fellow commissioner and town fire chief Billy Wilson Jr. on the fire insurance audit completed by the state at the Rose Hill Fire Department the day before. He commended the volunteer firefighters involved in preparing for the audit.
“They worked on it extremely, extremely hard, getting all the material together,” Wilson said. “It’s an awfully lot to compile for five years of records; hydrant testing, training, and five-year testing on trucks. It’s very important that we do maintain these records and have great audits because that’s what keeps our insurance rates down.”
Wilson said they will get the results of the audit and what the insurance rating for the department is within 90 to 120 days.
The board agreed to consider, at the next meeting, a request from a hair salon at 105 East Church Street to have handicap handrails installed from the street to the sidewalk to allow for easier access to the business by older customers who have trouble managing the steps.
