482-4418
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
50«
Look
for the
Albemarle
Magazine
inside
today!
Two deadlock votes kill zoning change
Plans murky on
home-based businesses
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
After nearly two years, Ar
rowhead Beach residents re
main divided about whether a
home-based business is a public
nuisance while county officials
are deadlocked on deciding the
matter.
Two
incumbents
seek
re-election
From staff reports
Two of three incumbent
school board members up
for re-election say they
plan to run again.
Jean
Bunch,
who holds
District
1, Seat 2
and Ricky
Browder,
who holds
District 2,
Seat 2 and
serves as
the board’s
chairman,
both said
Monday
afternoon
they would
file for re
eleetion
once the fil
ing period
opens. The
filing peri
od for the
Edenton
Chowan
Board of
Education
begins 'at
noon June
Browder
Dale
529 ana enas at noon on July
27. Interested candidates
must pay a $48 filing fee.
Win Dale, who currently
fills the at-large seat on the
board said he has decided
not to seek re-election after
completing his first 6-year
term on the board.
Dale, 53, said he made the
decision several months
ago not to run again. He
said he is a firm believer in
term limits and wants to
give someone else,the op
portunity to serve.
“I think it’s time for
some new blood and some
fresh ideas,” Dale said.
Bunch, 55, is also near
ing the end of her first
term on the board.
* Bunch said she decided
to seek re-election because
pf a desire to give back to
the community. She also
said she would like to con
tinue to be a part of seeing
ihe school system progress
In its use of technology.
; “We’re going to lag be
hind if we can’t provide
that resource,” Bunch
«aid. “I want to be a part of
making sure that we can
Jflo that.”
£ Browder, 49, is seeking
% third term on the board.
He has served as chairman
for the past four years.
» “If 1 am re-elected,”
Browder said, “my pri
mary goals would be mak
ing sure we continue to
I See BOARD, 3A
■ 1 02009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
'•Vi' f *
Efforts to control home-based
businesses by implementing a
text amendment that would re
quire aspiring residential busi
nesses to seek a specialise per
mit failed Monday morning. A
motion to adopt the text amend
ment ended with a 3-3 tie (Com
missioner Ellis Lawrence was
absent). Seconds earlier a mo
tion to table the matter, pending
further research as the impetus
behind the county’s original zon
ing restrictions also failed due to
” T ' STAFF PHOTOS BY RITCHIE E. STARNES
Chowan County's Gentry Bradley begins moving furniture Tuesday as the Department of Social Services prepares to relocate
at 100 West Freemason Circle, adjacent to the Public Safety Center. Today marks the official three-day move date with DSS
offices reopening for clients on Monday.
DSS begins three-day move
Veterans Affairs
share jail space
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
Add the Department of Social
Services and Veteran Affairs to the
final list of agencies vacating the
former county office building.
Today marks the final moves
from the East King Street building
that formerly housed numerous
county offices as well as the central
office for Edenton Chowan Schools.
Chowan leaders decided two years
ago to abandon the dated and ener
gy-deficient building that originally
served as a hotel for newer digs.
DSS begins a three-day move to
100 West Freemason Circle, or the
former building that housed the Al
bemarle Regional Health Services
and across from the Public Safety
Center.
“It’s going to be a great facility,”
said Clifton Hardison, t>SS director.
“This is going to be more conducive
for serving the citizens of Chowan
County.”
DSS will be closed to clients until
next Monday due to the relocation.
DSS previously occupied two sto
ries in the county building, but will
now field all of its services and its
30 employees on a single floor.
Judges seek to limit delays in DWI cases
Prosecutors have 9 months to produce blood test results
By WILLIAM F. WEST
Stqff Writer
District Court judges in the
Albemarle are no longer allow
ing driving-while-impaired cases
to be delayed when it takes too
long for blood test results to be
received from the State Bureau of
Investigation.
Chief District Judge Christo
pher Bean, in a letter to prosecu
deadlock.
Neither the owners of the
neighborhood deer processing
business nor county leaders
seem willing to comply with
Chowan’s current zoning regula
tions that prohibit the business.
When specifically asked wheth
er Danny and Angela Dupraw’s
seasonal Hunter Deer Process
ing business, located at their
307 Chinook Trail residence,
was permissible under Chowan
County’s zoning, Landin Hoi
Chowan County’s Gentry Bradley wheels furniture into the Department of Social
Services new location, Tuesday. DSS and Veterans Affairs is the last two county
agencies to vacate the former county office building on East King Street.
“Sometimes a two-story building
is like working in two different of
fices,” Hardison added.
The driving force behind these
relocations is fiscal savings. In ad
dition to moving out of a building
that often required maintenance
repairs and bled high utility bills,
Chowan offices will all be housed in
newer county-owned facilities.
Because the state provides the
county reimbursement of roughly
tors, defense attorneys and law
enforcement officials, said that in
cases after June 1, prosecutors in
the 1st Judicial District will only
have a nine-month window for
obtaining blood test results from
the SBI lab in Raleigh. The nine
month window starts when a sus
pect is arrested, Bean said.
If prosecutors are unable to
obtain the blood test results for a
case within the nine-month time
land, planning project manager,
informed the board that the Du
praws had been in violation.
Chowan County inspectors
had also previously ruled that
the couple had been violating the
county’s zoning ordinances and
were ordered via a letter to cease
and desist their operation.
“Meat processing is not per
mitted in the R-15 district, and
an operation such as this would
only be permitted in the Indus
trial Districts,” wrote Morgan
50 percent for its services, the coun
ty will be able to apply lease pro
ceeds toward the debt service on the
building where DSS will be located.
Nine years remain on the build
ing’s construction loan, which has
been bundled with the Northern
Community. Center with a balance
of $1.67 million balance.
Before DSS could assume its
new quarters that was first built in
. See MOVE, 4A
frame, they will not be able to get
that case postponed, Bean’s letter
states. The only exceptions to the
new rule, Bean said, are cases in
volving injuries or deaths or when
delays are needed for “the proper
administration of justice.”
The other four district judges
in the 1st Judicial District — Ed
gar Barnes, Amber Davis, Eula
Reid and Robert Trivette - joined
Bean in issuing the letter, which
A
Jethro, interim county planner,
on Nov. 5, 2010. “This is not a
permissible home occupation,
due to increased traffic, noise,
and odors which have been docu
mented by numerous complaints
to our Code Enforcement divi
sion.”
But, Chowan never enacted
any enforcement or imposed any
fines, Holland said.
Meanwhile, the Dupraws
See ZONING, 3A
Changes
await
trash
pick-up
Town expects
net savings
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
The town is looking at
changing its trash collec
tion in an effort to make it
more efficient and cost-ef
fective.
Public Works Director
John Norris said during
the Town Council’s June
12 meeting that, “Our goal
is to cut costs while main
taining the exceptional
level of service, that resi
dents expect.”
Norris said that a newly
developed restructuring
plan calls for dividing the
town into four garbage col
lection areas and collect
ing four days a week. Each
participating resident or
business would have their
trash picked up once a
week.
Recyclables would be
picked up on Wednesdays.
The current opera
tions schedule provides
for garbage collection on
Mondays and Fridays.
Dumpsters are emptied on
Tuesdays and Thursdays;
yard debris is also col
lected on Thursdays. Re
cyclables are picked up oh
Wednesdays.
The plan also calls for
the elimination of com
mercial dumpster service
currently provided by the
town. Those dumpsters
are limited to small busi
nesses such as banks and
retail stores, according
to Town Manager Anne
Marie Knighton. She said
that larger commercial
businesses such as grocery
stores and fast food restau
rants contract with private
haulers for trash collec
tion.
Knighton said that the
town services approxi
mately 86 dumpsters. Of
those, she said, about 15
dumpsters are utilized at
residential properties such
as condos and apartments.
A monthly rental fee
ranging from $20.80 to
See PICK-UP, 2A
is dated June 1. The district cov
ers Pasquotank, Camden, Curri
tuck, Chowan, Perquimans, Gates
and Dare counties.
In a phone interview Tuesday,
Trivette said he drafted the letter
after discussions with other judg
es in the district over the past six
months.
Trivette said he believes the
move was needed because of a
backlog of DWI cases created
primarily by an increase in the
';.v; See DWI, 3A