The Greensboro City Council Monday night tabled a request from local developer Brooks Pennington to rezone the property from B-1 to B-2.
He wants to build a parking facility for trucks, boats, and recreational vehicles on about 11 acres of land at the intersection of Town Creek and Old Eatonton Highway.
The project was approved on first reading at the Oct. 2 city council meeting, but on Monday councilman Jontavius Smith said he was concerned about traffic in the area and wanted to see a traffic study before approving the request.
Councilmembers David Neal and Morris Miller supported Smith’s motion to table the decision. Councilmember Cynthia Rivers voted no. Councilmember Chris Moore, who has attended the last three meetings on the phone, abstained.
Pennington told the council that he has a contract on the purchase of the land, but the property owner might not want to wait any longer to sell, meaning the project might be dead. The request was tabled to the Nov. 20 meeting, so Bureau Veritas, the company the city has hired to handle all rezoning issues, would have time to do a study.
Later in the meeting, Smith noted that the city’s Historic Preservation Commission passed a strongly worded resolution opposing changes at the county courthouse and suggested the city council should do the same. The Greene County Commission is considering moving all judicial activity from the rundown courthouse in the center of downtown Greensboro to a new building located further away.
Mayor Corey Williams said the decision on whether or not to approve a resolution is up to the city council but indicated he thought it was not necessary.
“We have spoken in public about how we feel about the courthouse,” Williams said, suggesting that it be discussed another time. No action was taken.
There was some confusion near the end of the meeting when Mayor Pro Tem David Neal questioned City Manager Jarvis Sims about the hiring of a project manager to put together a request for proposals for renovations at the old bank building at Main and South Streets.
The city purchased the bank four years ago with the idea of moving city offices there. The last estimate made for necessary improvements came in at $2 million, which was determined to be too expensive. The building sits empty today.
Neal and Councilman Morris Miller voiced concern Monday that the city council had not been consulted about the hiring or any renovation plans. The contracted manager, Jeff Prine, has already posted a 119-page request for proposals on the city website with a deadline of Nov. 13.
Sims, who has not been attending the last few meetings, participated by telephone and explained that Prine was hired with discretionary money that he as city manager has for contract workers, which was in the annual budget the council approved. He said Prine has done a lot of similar work, including a project he’s working on in Madison.
After the meeting, Neal told the Lake Oconee News he still has concerns.
“The last time we voted on the bank building, we didn’t have any funds, but we decided to go ahead and repair the roof because it was leaking,” Neal said. “So now, I look on the city website and we’re accepting bids.”
The contract for the project manager is for one year.
Also Monday, the city council voted to add four more days to the city holiday schedule. Sims explained the city wants to have the same holiday schedule as Greene County.
The addition of President’s Day, Good Friday, Columbus Day, and Veterans’ Day increases the number of paid holidays for city workers to 14.
Sims says the cost to the city is $8,000 per holiday, so this adds $32,000 to the annual budget.