Tag: Rocky Branch Park

Updates to Development Process Adopted, More to Come

Posted on by Marc Seelinger

An update from our meeting on Monday:

-The changes to the Land Development code promoting greater public participation in the development process were adopted. So, as new projects start to come through, you should start to see the new signs with all the information about the development (maps, contact information, website, etc.) on the project site. We also moved the neighborhood meetings to occur earlier in the development process so that feedback from the community can be incorporated into the project plans before changes become prohibitively expensive.

-We also approved the contracts for the Rocky Branch Park Trail enhancement and the Abbey Creek Greenway. We had some discussion around what the preferred route for the greenway should be – but the project team will be looking at a couple different options to see what makes the most sense, balancing considerations around cost, utility access, and proximity to the creek and other natural features.

-There was also some discussion around the Christmas Parade. At present, Belmont is the only municipality in Gaston County (outside maybe Lowell) that is proceeding with its parade this Winter. So, we had a discussion with representatives from the Montcross Chamber (which is organizing the parade on behalf of the City) to get an idea of what the parade might look like this year. They confirmed that they have had strong interest from groups looking to participate in the parade, and that they are developing plans to ensure that spectators can view the parade in a socially-distant manner. A lot of what can or cannot happen will depend on the specifics of the Governor’s latest executive order (which is due to expire next week). So, the Chamber and the City will be keeping a close eye on that and adapting appropriately.

-As a follow-up to a discussion we had at our last workshop, Council decided to accelerate the process by which we would amend the the Land Development Code to restrict the use of stand-alone apartment buildings downtown. We had initially planned on doing some public outreach on this. However, given the consistent feedback we have received on this topic since last year’s election, we were comfortable pushing forward on this change as it is very clearly something that most of our residents would like to see happen. Based on our discussion, we are looking at a late January/early February timeframe for a vote on this change.

Updating Our Capital Improvement Plan

Posted on by Marc Seelinger

A few highlights from our CIP workshop at the end of last week:

Most of our discussion focused on non-Utility capital improvements. We decided to do a separate workshop later in the fall (with the appropriate staff) to focus on that program given that most of those improvements are very technical. A list of some of the bigger items we talked about are below. Note that we didn’t “approve” any of these projects, but simply gave the go-ahead to staff to begin planning for these projects. These will still come back to Council for approval before they are funded :
-The Phase I Rocky Branch Park improvements that will construct a multi-use trail through Rocky Branch Park. The Tarheel Trailblazers have already done some significant fundraising for this project, so we’re looking at providing a match (of about $46k) to what they’ve raised.

-The new Recreation Center. We are looking into the feasibility of also including funding for a skate park and splash pad in the loan that funds the Rec Center. The final loan for the Rec Center will likely be about $11MM, and the costs of those two projects are small enough that they are unlikely to significantly impact our annual debt service (i.e. the difference in payments on a $11MM loan and a $11.5MM loan is relatively small, especially since interest rates are so low). We asked staff to develop some cost estimates for the annual maintenance involved with a skate park and a splash pad to get a better idea of what the total cost of ownership for those two projects would look like.

-We also talked about purchasing a new bus. The good news on this item is that the cost of a new bus is a little bit lower than what we thought it was going to be (about $90k for a 25-passenger, handicap accessible bus). We’re still looking at a couple options regarding financing it (including using proceeds from a $75k land sale to offset the cost), but the lower cost makes that effort significantly easier.

-We also briefly talked about the Dog Park that the DBDA is fundraising for. This was another project where we want to make sure we understand the ongoing maintenance needs for the park (especially figuring out the best way to keep it clean, etc.).

If you have any questions (or thoughts) about these projects, let me know!

Code Enforcement and Other Updates

Posted on by Marc Seelinger

A quick update from our meeting on Monday:

In addition to accepting the Governor’s Highway Safety Grant for a new DWI enforcement officer in our police department, staff announced that the City was also successful in an application for a Carolina Thread Trail grant that will help fund the design work for the Abbey Creek Greenway. The Tarheel Trailblazers also received a grant from the Thread Trail for the Phase I improvements in Rocky Branch Park. Both of these grants will do a lot to help grow and enhance the greenway/trail system in Belmont.

After reviewing the South Central code enforcement case, we had a general discussion about code enforcement in Belmont. Staff indicated that there are several other cases ready for review by City Council. The general consensus among the Council was that we would like to work through as many of those cases as we can before we get too busy later on in the year. So look for more of these cases to show up on future agendas over the next month or two. I think that it’s important to not allow these to linger for too long as many of these cases involve genuine health and safety risks to the nearby residents. We are still on-track to review the pending commercial case in North Belmont (on Cason Street) at our next workshop on 8/17.

Our next workshop will focus on affordable housing, where we will get an overview of some of the techniques and strategies that other municipalities in NC have deployed to maintain affordability for their residents. I believe that will be a very interesting discussion and worth tuning into if you have the time.

If you have any questions, leave me a comment!