13 minute read
Oak Ridge Town Council meeting
May 6 / MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
as reported by CHRIS BURRITT
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Mayor Ann Schneider called the monthly meeting in Town Hall to order, with Mayor Pro Tem Jim Kinneman and council members George McClellan, Doug Nodine and Martha Pittman present.
The meeting was livestreamed on the town’s YouTube channel, which is linked to its website and Facebook page.
The invocation was offered by Sebastian King, who served as campaign manager for Rep. Jon Hardister (R-District 59) and a policy advisor in the state legislature. Ethan Hartman, a member of Scouts BSA Troop 600 in Oak Ridge, led the Pledge of Allegiance.
PROCLAMATION
Boy Scout award. Schneider read a proclamation honoring Stewart Chipman, an Eagle Scout and member of Troop 600. For his Eagle Scout project, Chipman collaborated with the Oak Ridge Parks and Recreation Advisory Board to design and construct a flag collection and retirement center at Oak Ridge Town Park. The project won the 2020 Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award for the Old North State Council’s eight-county service area.
Later, the mayor recognized other members of Troop 600 in attendance.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Sheriff’s Office. Lt. Nathan Trish reported deputies responded to 56 calls in Oak Ridge in April, including an auto theft and three larcenies.
Trish advised residents to be wary of rising thefts of catalytic converters from vehicles, especially ones left parked for extended periods of time. Thieves sell the converters for scrap, he said. Oak Ridge Fire Department. Chief Ken Gibson said firefighters responded to 49 calls in April, mostly related to emergency medical situations.
The burning of yard debris by homeowners also resulted in several brush fires, Gibson said. He urged homeowners not to dump burning embers from fire pits into the woods. Loud vehicle mufflers. McClellan said some homeowners in Oak Ridge’s historic district and on Peeples Road have complained of vehicles with loud mufflers “going all hours of the night.”
Trish recommended that people who are disturbed by the noise write down a vehicle description and license number. Reporting the information to the sheriff’s office will help identify vehicles repeatedly creating noise, which may lead to citations or conversations between deputies and drivers, he said.
Trish said people can also call 911. He cautioned, though, that the vehicle may be gone before deputies arrive. If deputies arrive in time to find the vehicle, he added, “a single call isn’t necessarily going to result in having a blue light turned on.”
Schneider said it’s often difficult for people to write down the tag numbers of passing vehicles, especially ones going fast.
Later in the meeting, Miles Foy and Myra Blackburn, who live on N.C. 150 near Oak Ridge Military Academy, and Maj. Robert Forde, the academy’s admissions director, said they’re disturbed by loud mufflers as early as 6:30 a.m.
Some motorists are speeding, according to Blackburn. Foy and Forde urged the town to ask the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to extend the length of the 25-mph zone on N.C. 150 in front of the academy to encompass athletic fields at the eastern end of the school’s campus.
Reducing the speed limit for a greater distance would help “make traffic calmer and quieter,” Foy said, adding he believes the volume of traffic has increased over the past year.
Schneider said town staff plans to contact NCDOT about extending the reduced-speed zone.
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WHAT they voted on, and HOW they voted:
Mayor Ann Schneider, Mayor Pro Tem Jim Kinneman and council members George McClellan, Doug Nodine and Martha Pittman voted on the following issues during the May 6 council meeting. 5 0: Reappoint Jason Streck to the Planning and Zoning Board and appoint Pat Fiorentino as a full member of the board 5 0: Approve “Heritage Farm Park” as the new name for the Whitaker property on Linville Road 5 0: Contract with accounting firm Dixon Hughes Goodman to audit the town’s finances for the current fiscal year 5 0: Adopt a resolution urging state legislators to vote against two bills giving the state legislature authority over local zoning and land use planning 5 0: Conduct a study to determine the feasibility of installing water tanks and hydrants for fighting fires
MANAGER’S REPORT
NEW BUSINESS
And the park name is…
5 0 to name the Whitaker property “Heritage Farm Park,” based upon the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board’s recommendation for naming of the tract that is slated for an extension of Town Park.
“I love that it recognizes that park land was historic farm land for well over 100 years,” Schneider said. FY 2021-22 budget
Town Manager Bill Bruce presented a proposed budget of $2.62 million for the fiscal year starting July 1, projecting property tax receipts of $865,000 and a balance transfer from reserves of $809,587 as the biggest sources of revenue.
The spending plan proposes no increase in property tax, currently 8 cents per $100 of assessed property value, Bruce said.
If adopted by the council, the budget would increase stipends for council members from $100 to $200 a month.
Kinneman and Nodine said they oppose the pay raise for council members, which would be the first in 15 years. Increasing pay would be inappropriate after the COVID-19 outbreak created financial difficulties for some people, Nodine said.
Schneider countered that increasing the stipend would amount to “a small token of appreciation” for council members.
Despite nancial challenges caused by the pandemic, she said, “Optimism is the order of the day. at’s the core of our budget message.”
The budget projects capital expenditures totalling $1.04 million, with $855,000 earmarked for the first phase of development of Heritage Farm Park. The town has applied for a $450,000 matching grant from the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund to defray development costs for the park.
The proposal “recognizes fiscal conservatism for the town of Oak Ridge,” Finance Committee Chair John Jenkins said.
The council has scheduled a public hearing during its June 3 meeting to gather feedback on the budget proposal, with a vote to approve the budget to follow.
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Schneider recognized Stuart Mease and Jim Harton, new members of the Finance Committee, who both said they’re enjoying their volunteer work on the committee. Audit contract
5 0 to contract with accounting firm Dixon Hughes Goodman to audit the town’s finances for the current fiscal year; the firm’s fee is $19,600.
Dixon Hughes has performed Oak Ridge’s audit in recent years, prompting Kinneman to ask Sam Anders, the town’s finance officer, whether the town should hire a new auditor for the year ending June 30. Municipalities sometimes hire new auditors to ensure a fresh inspection of their finances.
Anders recommended hiring Dixon Hughes again, noting the firm rotates staff members to perform audits while imposing internal controls to monitor the auditing process; audits of municipalities are also reviewed by the state’s treasury department, he said. Opposition to proposed bills
“ is is a clear and present danger to every small and medium-sized town in North Carolina,” McClellan said. “It will create chaos in land use plans. It will subvert everything, for instance, that Oak Ridge has done” in terms of land use planning.
Later in the meeting, Ron Simpson, a member of the Planning and Zoning Board, and Sebastian King commended the council for supporting the resolution.
Specifically, one of the bills would require local governments to include residential duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes and townhouses in areas zoned for residential use, according to the resolution. It lays out Oak Ridge’s objection, stating the town’s zoning ordinance and future land use plan “allow for a diversity of housing types and lot sizes” and the legislature’s “one size fits all” approach undermines local authority over issues of land use.
The second bill would require that all local ordinances regulating the removal of trees be permitted only with the express authorization of the General Assembly.
The town’s resolution states the council, Planning and Zoning Board and Historic Preservation Commission value trees, and the council believes “any state legislation restricting local tree ordinances will damage local efforts to preserve our rural and historic character, hamper economic development and lower residents’ quality of life.”
“A champion is simply someone who did not give up when they
wanted to.“ – Tom Landry Water for fire protection
Town Manager Bill Bruce recommended the council approve the proposed scope of work for a fire suppression system, based upon recent discussions between the town’s Water Advisory Committee and Fire Chief Gibson.
“The system may include land acquisition, well drilling/wellhead construction, and engineering and construction of a storage facility for fire department access,” Bruce told the council in an April 30 memo.
Providing a new source of water is increasingly important, Kinneman said, as more houses are built in Oak Ridge while the number of ponds from which fire tankers are filled is decreasing.
“I can see the value of a fire suppression system,” said Nodine, adding he remains opposed to a proposed municipal water system that would ease the town’s reliance on well water for homeowners and businesses.
Schneider said the establishment of a system for fire suppression could “possibly create a structure for future water development in Oak Ridge. We want to look at all of those options and weigh them very carefully.”
Exploring the fire suppression system is one option for the $1.1 million the state General Assembly gave Oak Ridge for water-related projects. Last year, Oak Ridge, Summerfield and Stokesdale each got $1.1 million from $3.3 million left unspent on a feasibility study of a regional water system for northwestern Guilford County. Citing costs, the towns opted not to proceed with the regional system.
The Water Advisory Committee modeled its proposed scope of work for a fire suppression system on a similar study the Wooten Co., a consulting firm, prepared for the town of Summerfield in 2016 and updated in 2020.
Town and fire department leaders plan to explore the effectiveness and costs of placing tanks and hydrants for filling tanker trucks in various locations around Oak Ridge.
Putting an elevated tank and
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hydrants on the fire department’s property on Linville Road at Scoggins Road is a possibility, according to Bruce. Another possible site is the vicinity of N.C. 68 and N.C. 150 – or, ground-level or buried tanks and hydrants may be placed in various locations around town.
The scope of work will also evaluate possible sources of water, Bruce said. They include ground water or water purchased from the city of Winston-Salem, assuming water lines were extended to Oak Ridge along N.C. 150 or Haw River Road.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
As quoted earlier, Miles Foy, Myra Blackburn, Sebastian King and Maj. Robert Forde offered comments during this portion of the meeting.
COMMUNITY UPDATES
Historic Preservation Commission. Chair Debbie Shoenfeld reported the commission met last month with representatives of Hill Studio, a Roanoke, Virginia-based design firm hired by the town to develop an illustrated design guidebook for enhancing the town core’s “village feel.” Planning and Zoning Board. Chair Nancy Stoudemire reported the board also met with Hill Studio representatives to discuss how the firm’s ideas for improving the village feel could be incorporated into future development. Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST) Committee. Vice chairs Anne Steele and Bill Royal reported that 13 volunteers participated in a workday in April, as part of completing construction of a bridge crossing a tributary of the Haw River northwest of town. Special Events Committee. Chair Patti Dmuchowski reported the committee decided on a name for the veterans’ site: Veterans Honor Green. The name recognizes veterans living and deceased and the farmland on which it will be located. Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Co-chair John Browning reported the board approved two requests by Oak Ridge Elementary School for use of the Town Park amphitheater: the performance of “The Princess and the Pea” play and the fifth-grade promotion ceremony. Finance Committee. Chair John Jenkins praised the contributions of fellow committee members and town staff in preparing the proposed budget for next fiscal year. Oak Ridge Military Academy. Maj. Robert Forde, the academy’s admissions director, reported the academy plans to graduate 11 seniors, all of whom have been accepted by at least one of their three top choices for college. (See related article in News Briefs.) Oak Ridge Elementary School. Principal Penny Loschin said third, fourth and fifth grade students and teachers are preparing for state-mandated
COUNCIL COMMENTS
McClellan urged residents to express their opposition to proposed legislation that would infringe upon the town’s land use planning. Kinneman said “he had the privilege of standing in the river” as part of constructing the new bridge for the MST. Nodine and Schneider said they were impressed by Forde’s report about enrollment at Oak Ridge Military Academy. The mayor said two traffic circles and other improvements planned for N.C. 68 and N.C. 150 will help slow traffic through the town’s commercial district, helping address homeowners’ concerns about noise and speed of motorists.
With no further council comments, the meeting was adjourned at 9 p.m.
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