Abby Cavenaugh

WALLACE — Members of the Wallace Town Council and Mayor Jason Wells asked only, “Where do we sign up?” after a presentation by the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Main Street Initiative and Rural Planning Program during the monthly meeting on July 11.

Samantha Darlington, community economic development planner, explained that the initiative works all over the state with towns, cities and communities to help with strategic planning and historic preservation. “Our whole goal is to help communities prepare for economic growth,” Darlington said.

The Main Street initiative provides strategic planning services, implementation services, technical support, and training and education.

“Economic development happens intentionally,” she said. “It is not something that happens by accident. Because of that, we want to be intentional in how you are growing by creating a plan. These plans are not something you put on a shelf and you never touch it.”

She further explained that working with Main Street helps towns and communities see their goals, tasks and action items come to fruition.

In addition to helping foster growth, the planning can also create a foundation for a stronger downtown. Though it can help downtown, the rural planning program will “focus on the entirety of Wallace,” she stressed. “If you have a stronger downtown, you have a stronger town. If you have a stronger town, you have a stronger downtown.”

The program is free of cost, and can start as soon as the town council approves a resolution and memorandum of understanding.

The council verbally committed to taking part in the program, and will likely pass the resolution and memorandum of understanding at the next meeting, Aug. 8.

Also at Thursday night’s meeting, the council got a first look at a proposed pedestrian and bicycle plan, which outlines what sections of town need more sidewalks, crosswalks and bike lanes.

“It’s a good starting point for us,” said Planning Director Rod Fritz. “The reason we need this is so we can get on DOT’s radar and ask for grant money to get better pedestrian and bicycle links.”

With the Backstreet Music Festival coming up Aug. 3, and a Latino festival planned for October, the council also discussed festivals in town, and whether the town should waive permit fees for certain events to help the process go more smoothly.

Police Chief Jimmy Crayton suggested offering a refundable fee as a way to help ensure that festival organizers follow through with their responsibilities. However, Fritz stated that the $300 fee currently charged may not be enough.

“I think the biggest thing is you’ve got to make it standardized across the board, whether it’s the Strawberry Festival with 20,000 people or somebody showing up with 500 people,” Mayor Wells said.

The council agreed they couldn’t take action at Thursday’s meeting, but Fritz and Taylor planned to send them the current special permit wording and go from there.

In other business at the July 11 meeting:

• A public hearing was scheduled for the next monthly meeting on Aug. 8 to consider rezoning of a 6.08-acre parcel on Highway 11 from R-20 to Highway Business. The parcel is the site of a planned Royal Farms gas station, convenience store and car wash, and this rezoning would cover the remainder of the property that has not yet been zoned Highway Business.
• The council updated the Depot Commission’s bylaws to reduce the number of commission members to 12, require attendance at meetings and clarify rentals of the Depot and Depot property.
• The council updated its memorandum of understanding with Pender County so that Pender can continue its water services contract.
• The council renewed the town’s fire contract with Duplin County.
• Sarah Cailler of the River Landing community spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting to voice complaints about ongoing “brown water” at her home. She talked with the town manager about upcoming changes to the lines that will hopefully alleviate the problem.
• The council approved a $2,500 budget amendment for the police department for training.

The Rose Hill town board voted unanimously to move forward with an application for a community development block grant (CDBG) for neighborhood revitalization at the board’s regular monthly meeting on July 9.

The town could apply for the NC 2024 CDBG neighborhood revitalization program for a potential of up to $950,000, Town Administrator Angela Smith said. “Direct benefit project activities must benefit 51% of low to moderate income persons,” she explained. “For an area-wide project, 100% must be low to moderate income households. Low to moderate income households are defined as less than 80% of the median income of the county. Direct benefit includes activities that directly benefit individuals like housing rehabilitation, and area-wide projects benefit the entire community, like parks and things like that. Other types of activities that receive funding include housing rehabilitation, period relocation, reconstruction, emergency repairs, housing development, and administration for any of those projects.”

Once the town approved making an application for the funding, Smith was selected to establish a housing selection committee, which will be made up of three individuals from the community who are not town employees or affiliated with the town board.

The committee will choose projects in the community that would be funded by the CDBG, Kevin Amory with with Insight Planning and Development explained. Those applying to be considered for funding would need to provide information about themselves, such as their age, income, property information, and so on, Amory said. “Our general recommendation is based on age, income and severity of need. So severity of need may not just be that my income’s low. It may be that my roof’s leaking, my septic system is backed up and I can’t pay to fix it, or my walls are not structurally sound.”

Amory’s company would hire contractors to inspect the potential properties and then provide recommendations to the committee. Once those properties are chosen, there will be a second public hearing held during the town board meeting.

A deadline has not yet been set for applications for CDBG neighborhood revitalization, Amory pointed out, but he encouraged the town to go ahead and start the process, which they did by approving the funding application.

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Street paving priorities set

Also at the July 9 meeting, the board approved a priority listing for paving of streets. “This year, we currently have $290,000 budgeted for street paving,” Smith said. “That’s 7,090 linear feet. Last year, we had $330,000 that we spent in paving, which was 8,200 linear feet.”

Smith suggested that the town pave priorities 1-6, which include: East Church Street (Highway 117 to Walnut and Walnut to Newton), West Main Street (Railroad to Maple and Maple to South West), East South Street (Highway 117 to Oak), North and South Newton Street, South Pine Street (Charity Road to West Church Street), and Fussell Street.

Smith also suggested that the town wait until fiscal year 2025-26 to pave North and South Walnut Street and East South Street (Elm to Railroad Streets).

The board approved Smith’s recommendations unanimously.

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Four-way stops to be added to several town streets

There had been some discussion among town officials whether to use four-way stops and three-way stops versus speed bumps to control speeding on some town streets. Smith said that Public Works Director Blake Parker and Police Chief Michael Tyndall have been through town, and presented the board a map that shows where all the new stops would be. They include four-way stops at the following intersections: at the railroad tracks and Main Street, Main Street and Elm Street, Church Street and Bay Street, Church Street and Elm Street, and Newton and Main Streets. There will also be three-way stops at Southerland Street and Church Street, and Herring Street and Main Street.

The board unanimously approved the new stop signs.

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In other business the town board:

• Adopted ordinance amendments to Chapter 74 of the parking schedule, which establishes that a zoning permit must be issued before an area of town is a designated parking area; establishes a $50 fine for violations; and restricts any truck, semi-trailer or vehicle exceeding more than three axels or 20,000 pounds from parking within town limits.
• Approved the renewal of a contract with Crowder Gulf for disaster debris removal and management services.
• Learned that the town was approved for a StRAP (Streamflow Rehabilitation Assistance Program) grant to install a catch basin on the corner of Charity Road and Elm Street. The grant totals $18,000.