No action taken on rezoning
In a called meeting Friday, December 20, Blue Ridge City Council members approved details regarding a 2020 special election, okayed spending over $90,000, and did not address two zoning items expected to be heard.
Councilwoman Rhonda Haight issued a call to elect a candidate for the city council’s Post 3 seat on March 24 “in compliance to all applicable laws.”
Within the same motion, Haight proposed appointing Court Clerk and Office Manager Barbie Gerald as the election superintendent and Utility Director Rebecca Harkins as vice superintendent and absentee ballot clerk. The motion was approved.
Advanced voting will begin March 2 to fill the seat vacated by Ken Gaddis when he moved out of the city limits.
Council members approved spending $85,000 for replacements to water and sewer lines on West Main Street.
Mayor Donna Whitener said, “We realized that the waterline was underneath that area, so that’s why we got to have that arched top and that pipe. We didn’t realize the waterline was that close to the ground. ... We didn’t know what was underground. We thought it was ductile iron, and it’s PVC pipe.”
She said PVC pipe only lasts a short time and the current lines have been there for “30 to 40 years,” which has contributed to water loss.
$9,670 was also approved for Ferguson Water Works to replace storm drains on West Main Street.
There was no mention of where the funds for either project would come from.
Two zoning recommendations by the city’s Planning Commission were expected to be heard by council members, but were not. The commission approved a request December 2 by Green Rocks, LLC, for a rezoning along part of Ada Street and denied a request from Nathan Fitts to rezone part of the College Street area.
The city council has the final say so on such matters, and both would have been considered at the regular December meeting under normal circumstances. That meeting was canceled and the special meeting announced December 18.
City Clerk Kelsey Ledford said after the December 20 meeting that Nathan Fitts has rescinded his application, and due to such short notice, the council agreed to hold off deciding on the Ada Street change until January.