King:
It's a
data
center world
after all
City seeks grants to water
Disney data center
gz EMILY WEAVER
i Editor
Project Roosevelt, re-
vealed as a plan to land Dis-
ney in one of the new data
centers in the TS@Kings
Mountain park, is in the run-
ning for two more grants to-
taling $60,000. If the grants
come through, then the city
and county will have re-
ceived more than half-a-mil-
lion in state funds to channel
water to the new data center
and its neighbors.
And water will be needed
- lots of water - to keep these
virtual “Fort Knox’s” of the
digital information age cool
while they store and protect
their clients’ virtual proper-
ties. The extra water will
benefit both of the brand-
name data centers that are set
to be the first two tenants of
the T5 park: Disney and In-
focrossing, a division of
Wipro (coined “the Mi-
crosoft of India”).
City and county officials
look forward to their new
water customers and the
prospects that will sprout
from this new irrigation, but
they remain hushed over the
Disney project.
A deed filed with the
county shows that Disney
has purchased the property
in T5’s park off of Riverside
Court. ~
A signed incentives
agreement, filed through the
state, revealed Disney’s in-
tent to “create approximately
45 new, permanent, full-time
jobs (including = contract
labor) during the first five
GRADUATION
KMHS’ Class of 2011 will
turn its tassels Thursday
night
years” with it’s new Kings
Mountain data center.”
The agreement also stip-
ulates that Disney World-
wide Services will create “at
least $100 million in taxable
investment” through build-
ing improvements, research
and development, machinery
and equipment over 10
years.
In 2010, the state legisla-
ture passed Senate Bill 1171,
which offers a tax break on
the electricity that data cen-
ters consume and expands a
low rate on the privilege tax
(one percent) for data centers
on equipment and machinery
purchases. .
At their last meeting on
May 31st, city council
adopted resolutions to allow
Mayor Rick Murphrey to
submit an Industrial Devel-
opment Fund Utility Ac-
count grant application for
$30,000 to the North Car-
olina Department of Com-
merce. Another Economic
Infrastructure Program Grant
application for $30,000 to
the North Carolina Rural
Center is also set to be filed
by the city. Both grants, if |
awarded, will be used to ex-
tend a waterline to the-prop-
erty for Project Roosevelt.
Earlier this year, the
county was awarded a
$500,000 grant from the
state to extend a secondary
waterline to the site. In an in-
centives agreement with Dis-
ney. Worldwide Services the
City of Kings. Mountain
agreed to extend a 12-inch
waterline to the facility, of-
GRANTS, 7A
- Ee SE TEEGSEEEE A
Volume 123 Issue 23 « Wednesday, June 8, 2011
il F =
AMRICK
50°
INSURANCE
704.739.3611
106 East Mountain Street
Kings Mountain, NC
www. KMinsure.com
| proposer
See re ¥ 9 MO EE
Fe poe oo ard TAG
? 21
New lines are being drawn in the city for the next decade of elections.
How many will be living in your ward?
Ward 1: 2,178 (up from 2,092)
Ward 2: 2,079 (up from 2,044)
Ward 3: 2,044 (up from 1,969)
Ward 4: 2,442 (up from 2,110)
Ward 5: 2,431 (up from 2,084)
EMILY WEAVER/HERALD
Drawing lines for ot elections
a ELIZABETH STEWART
i
lib.kmherald@gmail.com
Kings Mountain’s population growth is
resulting in ward redistricting. Where you
go to vote in this year’s city election may
change.
City Council will conduct a public hear-
ing June 23 and vote on amending the city
charter June 28. Both meetings are at 6 p.m.
in council chambers at city hall.
“We have to redraw the five wards based
on 2010 census figures of 11,174,” said City
Attorney Mickey Corry who heads the
city’s redistricting committee. The 2000 cen-
sus showed a city population of 10,658.
Citing big growth, Corry exclaimed at
last Tuesday’s city council meeting that
. Ward 4 just exploded (in growth) with 605
new residents, the new number based on
city annexation of Crocker Ridge and Halls
Crossing. Another surge in population re-
sulted from the last portion of Crocker
Ridge being annexed and the most recent
areas annexed on the western side of the
city.
CITY, 7A
KM’s King takes reign as
state vice chair of GOP
EMILY WEAVER
i Editor
Kings Mountain’s Wayne King,
considered one of the “young guns” of
the Republican party, unseated the
state GOP’s incumbent vice chair Sat-
urday at the state convention in Wilm-
ington to help lead the party to a new
tomorrow.
At 30 years old, hel is perhaps the
youngest man in the country to take
the second most-high position in a
| state Republican party. At 27, he was
well on his way.
Shortly after 4:30 p.m., Saturday,
more than 1,300 state delegates cast
"Wayne worked hard and
| will do a good job for the
to working with him to-
| ward ddvancing the
agenda of the GOPand
expanding our legislative
(R-Cleveland)
state party. | look forward
majority in the 2012 elec-
tions." - Rep. Tim Moore
their votes with the majority ruling in
King’s favor for the two-year term. At
7:30 a.m., Sunday (15 hours later),
King was down to business meeting
with the state GOP chairman Robin
Hayes.
“We’ve got a big task ahead - the
governor's race, the presidential‘race,
we’ ve got to keep control of the House
and Senate,” King said. “Now, we’re
just planning what to do and how
we're going to handle things...Hayes
and I are both committed. to doing
what it takes to win in 2012,”
After nearly six months. of actively
campaigning across the'state in person
and through social media sites such as
"Wayne has:grown up in
tha trenches with the. peo-
ple of grassroots politics.
He was a mainstay in my
first campaigns and was
a child of 15 who had to
- be driven around to put
Facebook (137 ES PRE
likes) and Twit-
ter (91 follow-
ers), he clinched
his biggest polit-
ical accomplish-
ment yet.
King ' said
that he sees this
chance to help
lead the state
party as both a
“real honor” and “humbling”.
In 2007, at the age of 27, King ran
against two others for chairman of the
Cleveland County Republican Party
KING, 7A
“| think it's great
that we have a
person in leader-
ship from our :
area and | think
Wayne will do a
great job.” - Rep.
Wayne King
Up signs.” - Sen. Debbie Kelly Hastings
Clary (R-Cleveland, (R-Cleveland,
Rutherford) Gaston)
1C
SCHOOLS
Student’s art show raises |
$176 to help endangered
animals
II
89852500200
WLBT Te
Banks Trust
6B
Planning and economic devel-
opment took center stage in unan-
imous actions by city council
May 31.
After a public hearing, a text
amendment to the city’s zoning
_tricts reflected some
changes that city planner Steve
Killian said would “better get us
in line with Main Street principles
for preservation and appropriate
rehabilitation and design for the
downtown area.”
ordinance regarding overlay dis-
Killian said the changes repre-
small
includes the following:
Splashin’ into Summer
sent a long effort and recommen-
dations of the Main Street staff,
Mountaineer Partnership, admin-
istration, codes and planning and
+ Awnings - must be con-
structed of durable, protective and
fire (not water) repellant materi-
als. » Signs should be architec-
City amends overlay ordinance for redevelopment
<1 ELIZABETH STEWART
lib.kmherald@gmail.com
turally compatible with the style,
composition, materials, color and
details of the building (not with
other signs on nearby buildings)
and should be constructed of ma-
terials such as metal or wood. No
plastic signs are allowed such as
plastic molded internally lit signs.
CHANGE, 7A
Left to right, Autumn Sheridan, 12, Sylvia Hyde, 12, and Mariah Josey, 10, take a plunge into the deep end at the KM YMCA pool Sat-
urday at Open House.
AW)
Building Trust, Building Smiles,
209 S. Battleground Ave., Kings Mountain ¢ 704.739.5411
www.alliancebanknc.com « memser ric