Music & Water Festival — 1B
482-4418
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
50*
Council rejects Evergreen’s subsidized housing
Original SUP
Expired too
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
Raleigh-basedEvergreen
Construction has lost its
bid to build a 50-unit devel
opment on 11.64 acres on
Coke Avenue. And the spe
cial-use permit the Town
Council granted last year
for the de
veloper’s
original
plan ex
pired May
10.
On May
29, »the
Edenton
To w n
Council voted against giv
ing Evergreen a special
use permit to expand its
original plan of 45 units.
Mayor Roland Vaughan
broke a 3-3 deadlock and
sided with those council
ors who found that the pro
posed project would not
be in harmony with sur
rounding properties. The
project also failed to get
a second to Councilman
Willis Privott’s motion
that the government-subsi
dized development would
not injure surrounding or
adjoining property values.
Tim Morgan, vice-presi
dent for Evergreen, said as
late as Monday afternoon
that his company is con
sidering legal action, in re
sponse to the decision.
“We’re still evaluating
where we go from here,”
Morgan said after the vote.
Evergreen’s prior, re
quest to have councihnen
Bob Quinn and Sambo
Dixon recuse themselves
from participating in the
quasi-judicial hearing also
failed. Morgan had argued
that because Quinn and
Dixon own rental property
they had a conflict of in
terest. Neither Quinn nor
Dixon offered to recuse
themselves. Town attorney
Hood Ellis found no reason
for them to be disqualified.
Evergreen had no objec
tion to Privott or Council
man Jimmy Stallings hear
ing the matter, although
they too own rental prop
erties.
On behalf of his cli
ent Evergreen, attorney
James Barron specifically
challenged Quinn after
the councilman took issue
with the group’s market
ing study during a previ
ous Council meeting.
Quinn said that rather
than provide a positive
See EVERGREEN, 3A
PHOTOS BY REBECCA LOWE AND RITCHIE E. STARNES
High winds from Friday’s thunderstorm snapped area trees like this one^tedfclong Virginia Road in front ofVidant Chowan Hospital. Heavy
winds (top right) and rain quickly dismantled a day’s work of erecting this tent at the Barker House for a wedding reception scheduled for Satur
day. The reception was moved as a
I Heavy rain, winds storm area
From staff reports
What Beryl failed to do, a
quick moving thunderstorm
last Friday wreaked enough
havoc to do for a while.
Strong winds followed a del
uge that brought thunder and
lightning in much of Edenton
Chowan. Downed trees and
broken limbs littered the area
while swollen creeks led to
localized flooding. The storm
also caused repeated power
outages throughout the after
noon.
There were conflicting re
ports of a tornado sighting in
Pasquotank County.
Much of the strong winds
here came toward the end of
the two-hour storm.
Two days earlier remnants
of Beryl, a tropical depres
sion, brought rain and wind,
but nothing like Friday’s
downpour. Although Beryl
was forecast to dump several
inches of rain here, the Na
tional Weather Service report
ed only 2 inches of rain fell in
Edenton-Chowan.
Soggy conditions, however,
led to an Edenton-Chowan
Schools bus getting stuck on
the shoulder of Virginia Road
near Valhalla. Bus No. 75, car
rying 15 students from John
A.-Holmes, ran amuck on a
northbound shoulder, when
the driver veered to miss a
car turning into the bus’ path,
according to Sheriff Dwayne
Goodwin and Superintendent
Allan Smith.
No one was hurt in the mis
hap and the bus was soon freed
from the mud.
Lamb must
find $157K
more cuts
Board balks at $8k
for Steamers’lights
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
After County Manager Zee Lamb
managed to cut his original budget by
more than $400,000, the Chowan Coun
ty Board of Commissioners requested •
that he slice it another $157,000.
Instead of fulfill
ing Lamb’s request
to adopt his proposed
budget Monday night,
the board voted that he
return $157,000 from
the solid waste fund
and apply it toward the
county’s debt payback.
“We’ve already cut
over $400,000 in the budget,” said Lamb,
suggesting his budget is already cut too
thin. if
Just weeks ago, Vice Chairman Keith ■;
Nixon expressed that the solid waste ]
revenue not be used to balance the j
budget, instead favoring the money go j
in the county’s fund balance. He ex
plained that the county had previously
See BUDGET, 3A
Queen Anne
Creek bridge
closes Monday
Early completion will
fetch $1,500 daily
By RITCHIE E. STARNES
Editor
Plans call for the N.C. Highway 32
bridge over Queen Anne Creek to be
closed for the summer, beginning Mon
day
With school out for summer vaca
tion, N.C. Department of Transporta
tion plans to proceed with the $1 mil
lion bridge replacement that connects
downtown Edenton with southeastern
Chowan County, including the North
eastern Regional Airport and the Sound
Bridge. Motorists will be forced to use a
roughly 10-mile detour until the Aug. 24
expected completion date.
DOT had planned to wait until school
was out to minimize disruption with
a completion timeline before the next
See CLOSING, 2A
Council: Golf carts need to be as safe as possible
Carts could be
approved June 12
By REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
l The Town Council could
£ ’*8 907 6*4 4813
, ©2009 The Chowan Hei aid
I All Rights Reserve I
i# *'
vote on the merits of a pro
posed ordinance to allow
the use of golf carts on
local streets as soon as its
June 12 monthly meeting.
Councilman Steve Biggs,
who chairs the administra
tive committee that will
bring the issue before the
full council, said that the
desire to make the carts as
safe as possible had delayed
a vote on the issue which
has been under consider
ation for several months.
important that we make
them (carts) as safe as hu
manly possible before we
allow people to start oper
ating them,” Biggs said. He
added that he was particu
larly concerned about pro
tecting any children that
might be riding aboard the
carts.
Proposed safety features
for the carts would include
lap seat belts as well as
working headlights, tail
lights and signal lights be
cause the proposed ordi
nance would allow for use
of the carts for one hour
past sunset.
Biggs said during the
council’s May 29 commit
tee meetings night that he
felt the addition of lap seat
belts to the previously dis
cussed safety features was
absolutely necessary.
“I would like to see that
put in the ordinance,”
Biggs said. “I’ll be able to
sleep at night knowing we
have done all we could to
make them (carts) safe.”
Councilman Willis Priv
ott said he would too. “I
agree with Steve,” Privott
said, “because I’m looking
at safety.”
Mayor Roland Vaughan
said he felt once the safety
concerns were satisfied,
the golf carts could pro
vide an important benefit
to the community.
“Any time you can get a
little sizzle in your commu
nity, it’s a good thing. This
is sizzle,” Vaughan added.
In addition to the pro
posed safety features, the
ordinance under consid
eration would require that
only licensed drivers oper
ate the vehicles. The carts
would have to be inspected
and registered at the Eden- .
ton Police Department.
The proposed ordinance
also includes a disclaimer
that would hold the town
harmless in the event of
any accidents, injuries or
deaths that might occur as
a result of the carts’ opera
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