Greensboro City Council held its first meeting of the month on Monday, only discussing a couple of community concerns.
This was the second consecutive meeting to end after less than 20 minutes and bypassing an executive session.
During the brief meeting, the city council discussed the resolution to extend the city’s 90-day vape shop moratorium and updates from the Greensboro wastewater treatment plant.
Adam Nelson, Greensboro's city attorney, spoke early in the meeting about the council’s decision to pass the 90-day vape shop moratorium. The council officially implemented the halt during its April 17 meeting.
“Back in the second April meeting, we adopted a 90-day moratorium on approval of vape shop certificates of occupancy,” Nelson said. “That was so that staff and council could look into defining vape and smoke shops in the city and deciding what regulations or zoning might apply.”
Before the city council session, the Planning and Zoning Board discussed the matter extensively during its public meeting on Thursday. Multiple members were opposed to having such businesses within city limits.
The current Greensboro Code of Ordinances states that “such businesses shall not be within 200 yards of any church, temple, place of worship,” educational or government-owned facilities, “or within 500 feet of another smoke shop or vape shop.”
During the P&Z meeting, the board amended the code of ordinances to exclude vape shops.
At Monday’s meeting, the city council agreed to extend the 90-day vape shop moratorium. They received a draft from the P&Z board to extend the moratorium for another 60 days and will discuss the matter further at their next meeting in two weeks.
Toward the end of the meeting, Marcus Cunningham, supervisor of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, spoke to the city council on multiple facility updates.
According to Cunningham, the quarterly samples were from “raw wastewater, treated effluent,” “wells on the land application site,” and “surface water from Town Creek.”
“Those samples were collected and analyzed, and the results will be submitted to EPD by the 15th of this month,” said Cunningham.
The plant is also preparing to run the quarterly sour test on sludge, where “the digestions will also be collected or have been collected, and the samples have been submitted to PACE, which we use to do the analysis.”
These samples are to be collected during the quarterly tests, which take place each year.
These designated samples will be included in the wastewater plant’s biosolids report, which they submit to the EPA and EPD. This report will be finished by January 2025.
“Since we had the excess sludge we disposed of last year, those samples will also be included in the biosolids report,” Cunningham said.
He added that the plant hopes to make some long overdue maintenance replacements on-site.
“We are collecting quotes to repair and replace our LES vertical turbine pumps, pump, and motor,” Cunningham said. “One of the pumps hasn’t been replaced or repaired in the 25 years or so it has been in service. It is going to be pricey, so we are looking to find the best options available, the most economical option that’s available to us.”
Other important points of Monday’s meeting:
• The P&Z Board received a preliminary plat approval for a townhome subdivision set to be built on Eatonton Road. The property will be a zoned residential multifamily district, and the site will have 119 two-story townhomes. The preliminary plat approval was supposed to appear on the city council meeting’s agenda but was taken down shortly before the meeting.
According to City Clerk Toinia Butler, Mayor Corey Williams requested the subject be removed from the agenda, but she was unsure why. The Lake Oconee News also contacted Nicholas King, a developer employee, for comments. He is uncertain of the matter and said plans have stayed the same.
• During the meeting, City Councilman Morris Miller discussed his concerns about the vape shop moratorium with Nelson. He said he was aware of the reason for the extension request.
“People who are looking to have this vaping shop haven’t identified a building yet?” Miller asked.
Nelson assured him that the individuals wanting to have the shop had not identified a building.
• Cunningham mentioned that he had submitted a job advertisement for the newspaper to Butler.
“We really need someone to drive the truck to haul off our biosolids to the land application site,” he said. “That person can also work as a laborer, meaning they could be there to help maintain our spray fields and help maintain our grass grounds, whether at the treatment plant itself or our bus stations.”
The employee would drive a pump truck, which is registered as a farm vehicle, so a commercial license is not required.