home

O

riental’s Town Board met for its monthly meeting on Tuesday May 5. The meeting ran a minute or two shy of three hours.

Here’s what happened:

A public hearing was held and quickly closed after no one from the public made a comment. On the table was the Planning Board’s recommendation to adjust the new ordinance (passed this winter) that allows flat roofs. In a 3-1 vote, the board approved the recommendation that would permit flat roofed buildings only in the MU and MU1 zoning districts and only if the building is 25 feet or less above ground.

The dissenting vote belonged to Commissioner Dave Cox who raised objections to having allowed the flat roofs in the first place.

Cox noted that the town had gone thru a lengthy procedure a few years ago to put the dimension standards in place, such as one that required all buildings to have at least a 4/12 pitch.

After the 4/12 law was passed, Cox said, one person claimed it was a problem for his business, claiming that no commercial steel buildings could be built with a 4/12 pitch unless there were extensive redesign. (Cox didn’t use any names, but Ed Bryant, who owns the storage units on Broad Street had lobbied the town to allow the flat roof on an additional building he plans for his site. He was successful in getting the law changed.)

Commissioner Cox Tuesday night said that if the town board was going to reverse the law based on a person’s claims, it should’ve taken “a better look at the claim.” He said he had done so recently and found that the claim was “not exactly” right.

“Within walking distance of Town Hall,” Cox said, “there are commercial steel buildings with 4/12 pitch.” (One of them is the Triton Yachts building at Broad and Midyette.) The manufacturer, Marston, Cox said, offers “a lot of options. The shallowest they make is a 4/12 roof pitch.” They offer mini-storage warehouses in their line, as well, according to the Commissioner.

Cox urged greater scrutiny in the future when claims are made to the board to justify changing a law.

“I would suggest we need to be a little skeptical when claims are made and make sure some research done to make sure it’s true or not. The upshot is that we took one businessman’s claim to reverse a widespread consensus of the town of what they wanted the town to look like and I object to that.”

“We’ve had this discussion before,” Cox said. The residents of town, he said, had the right to determine “what kind of a look they want the town to have.”

He said the amendment before the board to limit the flat roofs to the commercial parts of town would “go a long way toward minimizing the damage”, but he still voted against it.

Commissioners Candy Bohmert, Nancy Inger and Sherrill Styron voted for it. Commissioner Kathy Kellam was not present for the beginning of the meeting, as she was at a Pamlico Community College Board meeting.

——

In his report to the Board, Town Manager Randy Cahoon said that in light of the economic belt-tightening, he had asked the Public Works director Robert Fears to inventory the town’s equipment so that the town wasn’t paying insurance on things it didn’t have. That drew some laughs and Cahoon said that it was “only funny, if it weren’t true.”

Another type of inventory is also underway, one that pedestrians may be noticing. The town is identifying the sidewalks in town that have cracks and otherwise need repairs. Those that do have been getting spray paint to mark the spots. Commissioner Cox suggested that the town give thought to using pervious materials when replacing or pouring new sidewalks which he said might be more flexible and not break down as fast as the impervious ones.

Cahoon said that he also had gotten the NC Dept of Transportation to agree to let the town paint yellow curbs — to signify No Parking — wherever the town wants to. One area that is getting that treatment is across Church Street from Town Hall. The north side of the street from the corner of Broad to past the Inn at Oriental B&B will be off-limits to parking. That was prompted by a curb cut made for traffic that would be exiting a soon-to-open take-out food business at the corner of Church and Broad. The town says it wants to avoid the reduced visibility that parked cars along there would create.

Cahoon also reported that the town had received an estimate from a local sign company on what it would cost to put a decal ($350) on the currently unmarked police car and a replacement decal ($175) on the side door of the Durango which had to be repainted after an animal ran in to it. Some sticker shock ensued among the Town Board and it was left that the town would look for another bid.

The Town Manager also reported that North Carolina’s beer and wine tax is going up, but he says the state “is not sharing with the towns.” (The beer and wine tax that Oriental gets is not based on how much beer and wine is sold in bars here but rather is distributed from Raleigh on a per capita basis.)

Cahoon also said that drains were clogged near the corner of Hodges and Broad and that the NC Department of Transportation was looking in to it.

——

During the public comment period, resident Gwinn Hedrick asked if the town were taking any action on the hike in home insurance rates for the 20 coastal counties, including Pamlico. Mayor Bill Sage noted that the town had passed a resolution a few meetings ago asking for another look. County Commissioner Chris Mele described it as 80 counties in western NC versus 20 on the counties in the east. Resident Jim Barton noted that the hike was 20 percent, which was better than the doubling that was initially proposed.

——

In the Planning Board report, Jim Barton, the new vice chair of the Planning Board told the board that Bill Marlowe had been elected Chair after the former chair, Bob Miller stepped down. Barton pointed out that there is a vacancy on the Planning Board. Town staffer Lori Wagoner told the board that there had been no applications to fill the fifth seat.

Barton also reported that the planning board was proposing a new definition of B&B’s. Among other things it would include the stipulation that in new B&B’s, no more than 50% of the heated space be rented out.

A public hearing would be required before making that change in the GMO. The town manager suggested that the board hold off for a meeting or two, in part because some other public hearings might be bundled together. (The town has to advertise public hearings in the local weekly; bundling them together saves on advertising costs.)

——

Commissioner Bohmert delivered the Tourism Board’s report. At its last meeting, 3 members showed up, shy of the quorum needed for the 7 member board. There has been a vacancy — and may possibly now be two open slots — on the board. Commissioner Bohmert relayed the idea of reducing the Tourism Board’s size to 5. (It had been increased to 7 a year or so ago in order to distribute the tasks more widely.) The board declined to take action on reducing the size of the Tourism Board at this meeting.

Bohmert said she would recommend that the Tourism Board have to come back to the Town Board to approve any budget items that crop up in addition to what was laid out in its annual budget. Mayor Bill Sage said that before a non-line-item expenditure for the Tourism Board is committed, the Town Board should be made aware of it and that the Town Board’s approval be sought before it can be spent. Commissioner Cox said that “we desperately need” to track how funds are being spent. It’s not hard to list the line items, he said, adding, “it can jump up and bite us if we don’t.” (The Tourism Board gets half — about $11,000 a year — of the tax that is collected for accommodations in town and after the Town Board, has the biggest budget of any town board.)

Mayor Sage noted that the outgoing Tourism Board chair, Katy Pugh, had suggested in a letter that the town offer a paid part-time position to someone who would “coordinate tourism and related activities in town.” She said that emerged from a Long Range Planning Committee meeting with local business-people. The mayor said he had reservations about “proceeding down this road at this time.” Commissioner Cox said he also had a hard time supporting the idea.

——

Barbara Venturi provided the update from the Long Range Planning Committee and its questionnaire which hundreds of people, residents and non-residents filled out. Venturi said that “every comment” received would be on the Town’s website and would be something that would “be mined by the town for 3-4 years going forward.” She said the committee was “amazed with the data we have,” and would be meeting “next week to grasp what it is we have in our hands. It may be next fall,” she said, “before we have something solid for the town to be reviewing.”

——

Commissioner Kellam provided the Police Report, saying that the town had monitored the speeds of vehicles traveling on upper Midyette Street between 5 and 7pm. It was determined that two vehicles registered speeds in excess of the limit. (Upper Midyette between Broad and North Streets is due to have rumble strips laid down to reduce speeding thru the street where a number of children play.) Commissioner Nancy Inger asked what the results would be if the police measured the drivers’ speed on Saturday mornings (when more cars than usual travel down the street with boats in tow.) “I’m not suggesting we target boaters,” Inger said, “but that is part of the problem.”

Commissioner Kellam said that several guidelines had been drawn up for the newly acquired Police Boat. Among the guidelines: that the Boston Whaler only be used in seas no greater than 2-3 feet, that it not be taken out on the river if the weather conditions were questionable. Also, that while it could bring emergency responders to a boater in medical distress, the police boat should not be used to transport them to shore except in extreme cases.

(The boat was given to the town for free this winter thru a military program, but has cost the town $800 so far in repairs, one of them, a hole in its hull. The boat acquisition has drawn some scorn — as being a drain on resources in the future — and some praise — as another tool to use to help people in distress on the waters as well as for law enforcement.)

The cost of insuring the boat came up at the Board meeting and the Town Manager said it would be an additional $400-$500 per year.

Commissioner Kellam, the police commissioner, addressed some of the controversy over the boat, saying that when the police chief first told her it was being offered for free, she gave a go-ahead. When it emerged that it would cost $800 to ready it for the water, she said that she told him he would have to take it up with the full Town Board.

Commissioner Bohmert said that she had reservations about acquiring it. Commissioner Kellam noted that when it came to a vote at an earlier meeting, Bohmert voted with the others to approve the $800 expenditure. That was the point, Kellam said, at which “we could have given it back.”

Commissioner Styron spoke about the downside of rushing to accept items that come in as grants. He noted that several years ago, the town got a grant to hire a second police officer. It paid for his salary in full the first year, for half the salary the second year and would in time have to pay the full salary for Sargent Bill Careway.

While noting that the boat provided a lesson for “future acquisitions,” Mayor Bill Sage said “we got what we got.” He asked if the boat could be transferred to the Fire Department and was told that it could only go to a law enforcement agency (under terms of the program that sent it to the town.)

Bill Michne, captain of the Oriental First Responders unit was asked if the EMT crew would want to take the boat. “Only as a joint use,” Michne replied. He said he thought that the fire district, which controls the First Responders’ budget, could “kick in a couple of bucks.”

Commissioner Inger said she saw the boat as being “like insurance” for first responders and EMTs. “You can’t just value it on the dollars and cents. As a board we should give our whole-hearted support.” She said the town should not be “thrifty” with something like this in a waterfront community.

Commissioner Sherrill Styron asked Police Chief Jeff Cassasa about plans to use the boat to patrol the shoreline on a weekly basis. “What are you patrolling for?,” Styron asked.

The police Chief responded that in light of some boat thefts — in Oriental and at River Dunes — it was important that the police “be a presence on the water.” Casassa added that he thought the original intent was to help the emergency management services and the fire department and “work in a patrol here or there.”

Commissioner Styron said he thought that if the town had a boat, it should be bigger. (and so, capable of going out in rougher seas.)

The Board voted 4-1 (Bohmert dissenting) to pass the guidelines for the Police Boat.

The Town Board also voted to accept $800 for the police boat’s upkeep from the recent Oriental Boat Show. It has been providing a share of the proceeds to maritime-related causes in the area..

(Later in the meeting Gwin Hedrick suggested the Police boat be used to patrol the waters near town to enforce no wake rules. Jim Barton said the wake was also bad at Pierce Creek.)

The board also voted on a phrasing change in the town ordinances that stipulates that the Police Chief reports to the Town Manager.
___

Commissioner Inger gave a Duck Pond Update, regarding the effort to have the town acquire some property near the pond in order to build a park and stormwater runoff improvements. The town was looking in to seeking grants but for the time being Inger said, the issue was dormant as funding would not be coming through.

—-

Posted Tuesday May 12, 2009 by Melinda Penkava