GREENE COUNTY
It is not so much what happened at the Greensboro City Council meeting Monday night. It’s worth noting what did not happen.
Council breezed through the Thanksgiving week session in less than 18 minutes with Mayor Pro Tem David Neal running the meeting for Mayor Corey Williams, who was out of town.
The council approved three alcoholic beverage permits – a beer and alcohol license for the new owners of Moon’s Supermarket and single-day licenses for a Soul Festival to be held Nov. 25 at Festival Hall and a Boys and Girls Club event.
Also approved was the closure of some streets around Festival Hall on Friday, Dec. 1, for the annual lighting of the Greensboro Christmas tree. Cail Hammons, community development director for the city, told the council that the tree will be located on the plaza outside Festival Hall this year. Traditionally, it has been on the courthouse lawn, but that property underwent major landscaping this year, and the city is no longer allowed to use the county-owned courthouse lawn.
City resident and former Greensboro police officer Joshua Wilson asked the council to consider giving city police a much-needed 20-percent across-the-board pay raise.
“Law enforcement is a very tough market, and across the country, we are struggling to retain adequate staffing,” Wilson said. “Our city is projected to grow by a margin of 2,000 residents over the next five years. We do not have time and should not wait for this to happen to recruit and retain the talent we need for our police department.”
No action was taken by the council.
What didn’t happen Monday
Two new development projects expected to be considered at the meeting did not appear on the agenda because both have been put on hold.
The 364-acre “eco-friendly” light industrial park proposed for land directly across from the old Athens Tech building has stalled because the developer was asking for the city to annex the property, which is currently outside the city limits. The project would include 2.66 million square feet of warehouse space with 1,065 parking spaces for employees and 506 spaces for trucks.
City attorney Adam Nelson told the Lake Oconee News Monday that the city cannot legally annex the property.
“If you were to bring those two parcels into the city, it would create two islands, which is not allowed by Georgia law.,” Nelson said.
Two small properties outside the city limits and not part of the rezoning proposal would be surrounded by city property if the annexation was approved.
Nelson indicated that the developers will likely have to come up with another plan that would prevent that and start the approval process again.
The other smaller project, an 11-acre proposed parking area for up to 120 trucks, recreational vehicles, or boats along Old Eatonton Road at Town Creek Boulevard, was expected to be considered by the council on Monday. It is on hold. Nelson said there is confusion about the current zoning of the property that must be resolved.
Also, the council was expected to name a contractor for an estimated $2 million renovation project at the old BB&T bank building at Main and South Streets. It was purchased by the city five years ago for a new city hall facility. The requests for proposals issued by the city on Oct. 12 indicated the deadline for bids would be Nov. 13, and the contract would be awarded Monday night.
It was not on the agenda, and neither Mayor Pro Tem Neal nor Attorney Nelson could provide details. The Lake Oconee News requested a comment on the status of the bidding and project from City Manager Jarvis Sims. He is said to be on medical leave and working from home.
In an email Tuesday from City Clerk Toinia Butler, Sims said the city is reviewing the bids and will make a recommendation at a later date.
Finally, at its last meeting, the city council approved a statement that it “supports a resolution” opposing the relocation of county court activities to another location, leaving the downtown courthouse without activity to support downtown businesses.
Many individuals and organizations have vocally opposed any plans the county has to make the change. Some wonder why the city is taking so long to go on record about the issue they feel jeopardizes the future of downtown Greensboro.
Mayor Williams said after the Nov. 6 meeting that he thought the resolution will “probably happen in the next few weeks.” It was not on the agenda Monday.