Southern Pines Council to Hear Comments on Budget, Zoning Issues
Southern Pines residents on Tuesday can weigh in on an annexation request, a proposed apartment complex and the town’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
A series of public hearings is scheduled as part of the town council’s regular meeting for June, which begins at 6 p.m. at the Douglass Community Center on West Pennsylvania Avenue.
The first of the hearings will focus on the town’s proposed budget for the fiscal year. The draft budget maintains the town’s current property tax rate of 40 cents while raising monthly waste disposal fees to $9.50, a spike meant to offset rising waste disposal costs incurred by the town.
The proposed budget also introduces a $5 fee for vehicle registration, which is expected to generate nearly $61,800 that will be put toward plans to install sidewalks on Bennet and Carlisle streets.
Following that hearing, members of the public are invited to comment on an annexation request submitted by Moore County Schools. The school system’s request involves two abutting parcels of land outside the town’s corporate limits on Camp Easter Road, where a new elementary school is being built.
During an agenda-setting session on Wednesday, town manager Reagan Parsons told the council he does not expect the schools’ request to elicit a strong reaction from the community.
The final two public hearings for Tuesday will both address plans submitted by Zimmer Development Co., which hopes to build an apartment complex on U.S. 15-501 near Morganton Road. The complex would span 12 buildings and include 288 individual apartments, a number Parsons said is “pretty common” compared with previous applications submitted to the town for similar projects.
On May 23, the proposed development received unanimous recommendation from the Southern Pines Planning Board. The proposal has also received approval from representatives of Country Club of North Carolina, the nearby gated community that opposed plans to build a shopping center on the same property in 2016.