[0:01] uh so had everybody can show up for the

[0:05] June meeting if you would

[0:12] [Music]

[0:15] everybody United States of

[0:18] America

[0:19] the stands

[0:23] na

[0:25] indivisible andice for all

[0:30] [Music]

[0:45] thing on the agenda

[0:47] [Music]

[0:48] tonight approval of the

[0:51] agenda is there any addition changes to

[0:54] the

[0:56] agenda and there's going to be one for

[0:58] me

[1:07] John Brady called me this evening and

[1:10] John asked me

[1:12] to turn his resignation

[1:21] in

[1:24] John great

[1:27] guy come on

[1:39] ask

[1:43] be okay I need the approval of the

[1:50] minutes motion to approve agend approve

[1:53] the agenda

[1:56] [Music]

[2:09] okay need to approval of the minutes for

[2:11] the reg meeting May

[2:13] 4 and budget meeting session

[2:31] uh public

[2:32] comment agenda

[2:35] item somebody needs to

[2:41] excuse uh citizens are encouraged to

[2:44] comment at this time on any item

[2:47] specifically listed as an agenda meeting

[2:50] agenda this common TI will limit to 3

[2:55] minutes so

[2:58] anybody agenda

[3:08] [Music]

[3:20] agenda uh number five we got the

[3:23] rezoning

[3:25] request uh following by the public hear

[3:30] got P Woody

[3:33] request

[3:37] 38-6

[3:39] D15 58 Lo off the Southside

[3:44] Drive reone from neighborhood business

[3:47] to R12 single family and two family

[3:51] residents and I think I've got two

[3:55] people wants to speak on

[4:06] excuse

[4:08] me it's really great that we all we have

[4:10] microphones but if you don't talk into

[4:12] them they don't do any good

[4:15] okay thank you open up thank you public

[4:20] hearing on this

[4:23] matter and we've got two people there

[4:26] that's going to speak on behal of the re

[4:34] got car

[4:36] BR and

[4:50] L first let me understand uh has the

[4:55] property been resigned or just

[4:57] recommended by the

[5:09] I can speak to that Mike if you would

[5:11] like yes the planning board did hear the

[5:15] request that two weeks ago and the

[5:18] planning board makes a recommendation to

[5:21] the Town Council now planning board did

[5:24] recommend approval but it is for the

[5:28] council to make

[5:31] okay thank you because there's a

[5:33] vertical voice and I thought that's the

[5:37] way

[5:39] should so it's my understanding that

[5:42] you're hearing this tonight

[5:44] to accept or

[5:48] Den

[5:52] recomendation yes okay um again my name

[5:55] is Le wats and I live

[6:02] field up

[6:05] South take a ride then go into a

[6:09] subdivision called men subdivision

[6:11] that's been there for a number of

[6:14] years Southside Drive is

[6:17] a

[6:19] road we thought it was for the 22 years

[6:22] that we've lived there until the sewer

[6:25] project came along and and to drive

[6:30] through 100 acres of pumpkins and then

[6:34] through the funeral home parking

[6:39] lot

[6:41] experience

[6:48] never all right thanks for tuning in

[6:50] everybody this video number of people

[6:53] live up there as I said it's a dead

[6:56] road now

[6:59] way we can get in and get out and and

[7:03] more than our personal travels up and

[7:06] down southide it's the only way that the

[7:10] uh police or fire or

[7:14] ambulance or any

[7:23] emergeny we have

[7:27] pum Town Police fire and all and make

[7:31] sure they knew were up

[7:35] there

[7:37] still the uh Southside Drive is a on

[7:41] Lane dirt gravel

[7:44] road for the sewer

[7:48] project the part in front of the

[7:51] property that's in question was down

[7:53] near the creek there was nothing but a

[7:57] and through the miracle of fil the lot

[8:01] is now some 20 ft

[8:05] higher than it was before the sewer

[8:08] project and what's that's what that's

[8:10] done to the road is in front of that the

[8:14] property that's in question you can't

[8:16] see it's a slope up and you can't see

[8:20] over the slope and there's a curve right

[8:25] there and you can't see around the curve

[8:27] so we you go up there doing this trying

[8:29] to look over the over the hill and

[8:32] you're doing list trying to see around

[8:33] it because Southside rout has a history

[8:36] of front front end

[8:39] collisions it's happened up there before

[8:42] and it's going to happen again and if

[8:44] anything's built on this property it's

[8:46] about to happen for sure because you

[8:49] can't see and your choices are three now

[8:54] that the property is raised it's almost

[8:56] straight down almost a vertical drop 20

[9:00] Sun feet in of

[9:02] Creek on the right on the other side

[9:05] there's a big rock so your three choices

[9:08] are roll over into blo Creek which is

[9:11] three M sure death slam into the big

[9:15] rock or to have a head on collision so

[9:17] your best choice is a head on

[9:20] [Music]

[9:24] collision so I'm here to say that uh if

[9:30] you uh change the zone or better yet if

[9:34] you allow building to be put there

[9:36] whether it be residential commercial or

[9:39] whatever then without

[9:42] improving Southside Drive so that you

[9:46] could at least back in and out of a

[9:48] driveway that there's going to be a lot

[9:50] of problems so I'm not I'm not saying

[9:54] don't do it I'm just saying make it safe for the people that live up

[10:00] and make it safe for the people that are

[10:02] going to use new facility if

[10:07] tode so I would ask that this decision

[10:10] not be made in without assurance that

[10:14] Southside Drive will be to a

[10:17] point minimum

[10:19] sa it's

[10:22] not a stre SC somebody's going to

[10:31] structures allow together secondly uh I

[10:36] used to work for planning organization

[10:38] we

[10:39] did zoning all the time for three to

[10:43] areas and I can tell you that in zoning

[10:46] the commercial Zoning for that piece of

[10:50] property is correct is correct because

[10:54] it's right right across the street from

[10:57] Highway 21

[11:00] through the state and through the

[11:03] town and it needs to stay that way you

[11:07] have to look at the future think about

[11:09] it now it doesn't seem to be a big deal

[11:12] but in the future a couple of years from

[11:14] now Highway 21 bridge is going to be

[11:17] rebuilt so that's going to be a major

[11:20] construction uh for our town and when

[11:23] that bridge is finished uh the few

[11:26] houses that are around there are going

[11:27] to be gone because they're already planed to be removed

[11:34] before they do the bridge and that area

[11:36] is going to become a very viable

[11:38] commercial

[11:40] area just think into the future it

[11:43] wouldn't be unusual that for someone to

[11:45] come and ask that would be put place on

[11:49] and paid all the way

[11:52] 2 I'd hate to see that but I expect it

[11:56] to happen

[11:57] some so that some caution prevailed here

[12:03] tonight and not go forward with

[12:07] this

[12:09] outside the next speakers talk about the

[12:12] stability of

[12:14] the and as I said it used to be a low L

[12:18] now it's got hundreds of cubic feet fill

[12:22] that was just put in last the last few

[12:26] months when the project was finished

[12:30] uh there's enough reason that believe

[12:33] that the filder that was put in there is

[12:36] not very stable and I would Al I would

[12:40] also ask that before you allow anything

[12:43] to be built on that site at a geot

[12:46] technical State done some borings to to

[12:50] find out how stable that is because you

[12:53] don't want to allow a building to be

[12:55] built there that's going to fall off

[12:57] into place of because if you do if you approve that Z you approve that

[13:03] building and it falls off into the creek

[13:06] somebody's going to get sick it's going

[13:09] to be the

[13:10] to and then you're going to have to

[13:15] pay you're going to have to pay you

[13:18] settlement fees attorney fees court fees

[13:22] and your insurance to Sky High and

[13:25] that's my taxone and that's their tax

[13:29] it's all our tax it would be very

[13:31] foolish to put yourself in a

[13:34] position knowing that there are

[13:37] questions about the stability of that

[13:39] site and allow building to be put there

[13:42] that has a lik

[14:02] I am

[14:03] a

[14:05] enger I've been practicing engineering

[14:07] for almost 50 years doing

[14:11] exactly this type of projects I did make

[14:16] visit a few weeks ago

[14:20] and get started I realiz it's already

[14:23] neighood

[14:25] business means building up about 5,000

[14:36] it's R 12 or where there's any other

[14:39] type

[14:40] of the problem

[14:43] is this side is unsuitable instru

[14:48] anything

[14:51] Park I Vis the site and I've looked

[14:54] about 30 years of aial photos on both

[14:57] Earth and Al count

[15:02] system the EMB the embankment on BL Sal

[15:06] Creek Side is anywhere 15 to 18 ft above

[15:10] the

[15:11] creek I measure the slope various

[15:15] locations

[15:18] along I'll try to

[15:21] explain a one to one slope everybody

[15:24] understands is basically for every one

[15:26] foot you go out it drops one foot

[15:29] the slopes that I measure say I measure

[15:32] sever of

[15:34] 1.3 to one go 1.3 ft we drop one foot

[15:39] which is I wonder one slope if you're

[15:42] standing at the top of it looking down

[15:44] you're thinking straight up and down

[15:48] D 1.3 one is also it did get as shallow

[15:53] as

[15:54] one shallow it's 1.75

[16:01] a little bit improv as you get towards

[16:03] the New River little Rivers side for the

[16:07] new

[16:12] flat the FI material if you got down on

[16:15] the slope I walk

[16:18] SL side cover with grass right now you

[16:22] got down the red Sal Creek Side and look

[16:25] back into the

[16:27] embankment the

[16:29] material very random had a bunch of

[16:33] folders in it which in itself creates a

[16:36] problem some

[16:41] soil and it was obvious that this

[16:44] material was in up and that the top of

[16:47] the slope is larly pushed out towards

[16:50] the all Creek to increase the

[16:55] slope in a like this

[17:01] we NC

[17:05] do other organization see short a 3 to

[17:09] one slope is for uncontrolled field

[17:13] which that's what this is a 3:1 slope is

[17:17] the maximum slope that you're allowed

[17:20] to build

[17:23] anything for this site that's the 18 ft

[17:27] High

[17:30] the nearest building needs to be placed

[17:32] no closer than 30.6 ft from the top of

[17:37] the now I didn't know this until just a

[17:39] few minutes ago CU I did not measure the

[17:41] width of the this particular lock I was

[17:44] told a

[17:45] few wide so as I said you guys can Z it

[17:50] anything you want I don't care about

[17:53] that but it needs to be built within 20

[17:56] ft of Southside Drive outside that 20t

[18:00] zone you're placing a structure on

[18:02] unstable slope and just to make the

[18:06] point it is my professional

[18:10] opinion building not any type of

[18:12] structure where his neighborhood

[18:14] business or is hard 12 or anything yet

[18:16] any permanent structure not be

[18:19] constructed on this

[18:25] side unless a a complete geot and I

[18:29] going to be one

[18:30] with that ain't going to happen because

[18:34] it's type of field plac there to do a

[18:37] soil test

[18:39] boring would probably you probably need

[18:42] five borings along that side they need

[18:44] to go at least 25 ft deep each boring

[18:47] going to cost you somewhere around 500

[18:50] per running foot and the reason being

[18:54] with all the rock and the

[18:56] embankments you can't go out there a do

[19:00] the whole so we're talking about

[19:03] spending close to

[19:05] $100,000 to do a geot evaluation on this

[19:09] side so that was one of the

[19:12] recommendations earlier it ain't going

[19:14] to Happ nobody in the right mind

[19:20] $100,000 that's pretty much all I have

[19:22] to say somebody's got a question this F

[19:26] is this pce of

[19:31] unable okay thank you

[19:36] appreci anybody else want to speak on

[19:42] the come

[19:59] finish Road out

[20:01] there actually um what I had mentioned

[20:06] to counil before was inaccurate you know

[20:09] I had said that the do had wanted us to

[20:12] pay that room that that was not

[20:15] correct no more what is

[20:18] already they have asked that the TA inst

[20:22] a g along about the first 50 ft or so

[20:28] at the most narrow

[20:30] point so there will be some improvement

[20:34] we're still in discussion with the folks

[20:37] G about the exact location and who

[20:42] should be paid for that either the town

[20:46] or the state because that is a state

[20:48] maintain

[20:51] Road another couple of points I'd like

[20:54] to make is the uh I have reviewed

[20:59] the ement agreement with these property

[21:02] owners and there was no guarantee about

[21:05] the suitability of the fill material

[21:08] that would be placed there so we're not

[21:10] in that sense under any obligation to

[21:14] say yes or no it's suitable to be built

[21:17] compl and Mary this may be something you

[21:20] can speak to but I'm not sure that's

[21:23] within the town's perview to say that it

[21:26] should or should not be

[21:29] based on the so characteristics I would

[21:33] assume that would be

[21:36] buildor in the building commits and

[21:39] those are the folks that as a town we

[21:42] depend on to have special training

[21:44] special abilities to decide if a piece

[21:49] of land can be used for the

[21:52] proposed building whether it be

[21:54] commercial or residential if Woodies

[21:58] anyone else in our community wanted to

[22:00] build a structure they would have to get

[22:02] a building permit it's going to look at

[22:06] so quality is going to look at whether

[22:09] something perks doesn't perk if it's

[22:12] going to be stable not stable so all of

[22:15] that's going to go under the building vs

[22:19] what this is looking at is whether it

[22:22] should be zoned residential or stay

[22:25] zoned where it's at now and from what I

[22:30] understand the structure could actually

[22:32] be larger if it was to remain Zone the

[22:35] way it's at and I went to the planning

[22:38] meeting and I believe that we're talking

[22:41] about tiny homes that the buies have

[22:44] proposed to build is that correct Mr

[22:45] Town

[22:47] manager and so we don't know if there

[22:51] will ever even be any buildings on it

[22:54] because for there to be buildings of any

[22:56] sorts there would have to

[22:59] perits but a tiny home is certainly

[23:01] going to be smaller than a commercial

[23:04] structure if the concern is that there's

[23:07] only so many feet that the property

[23:10] could have a building on but until

[23:14] somebody submits a plan somebody ask or

[23:17] something we just don't

[23:22] know I think the plan

[23:25] board we we went ahead and suggested it

[23:28] be

[23:29] changed and I don't see I don't see any

[23:35] difference commercial building

[23:38] neighborhood business or

[23:43] the

[23:45] resal they build they build

[23:49] a structure on it and they'll have to go

[23:52] through the process any

[24:01] how you going to build this structure

[24:03] man I mean right here in the next

[24:06] something I just don't understand if

[24:08] they going build it down there do they

[24:10] know where the new Bridger

[24:12] Go I mean looks like to

[24:15] me why would you want to build till you

[24:17] find that

[24:19] bridge if it's going to be in a

[24:21] condemnation

[24:24] action you have a structure on the piece

[24:26] of property that's getting

[24:30] might

[24:49] geten wither own I can't speak to their time

[25:11] it's not

[25:15] don't you ever been

[25:17] underneath no I don't think that I

[25:21] want I've done

[25:24] years I

[25:25] think wats made some good points about

[25:28] sa um I mean that's that I think that's

[25:30] where we need to focus at right now um

[25:33] whether it's us getting the do or it's

[25:36] us figuring out who's going to guard

[25:37] rail who's going to clear that rock

[25:39] whatever's going to make that visibility

[25:40] better um I think that'll be already my

[25:44] thought I just went through there the

[25:46] other day I know exactly what he was

[25:48] talking

[25:49] about I went through

[25:56] ELD I I mean think

[26:03] motion figure what Sol going to be guard

[26:08] not guard going to be I mean I I don't

[26:10] know what the options are there

[26:12] personally I have not been there there

[26:13] so I need to

[26:17] [Music]

[26:21] take motion second all in

[26:26] favorable okay

[26:31] we going into the second

[26:35] public this is

[26:40] for I hope I'm pronouncing this right

[26:44] [Music]

[26:46] rero uh request

[26:49] partial

[26:51] 3070 88-

[26:54] 3437 be res from neighborhood business

[26:59] to residential

[27:05] mul we got anybody St on that I'll just

[27:09] comment briefly if you don't mind uh

[27:12] this is the property it's on Memorial

[27:13] Park Drive just over here it was the

[27:18] hardware

[27:24] store and my understanding the the

[27:27] gentle to turn that

[27:30] into duplex SL report something to that

[27:34] effect and I know it was spoken at about

[27:38] at the public hearing at the planning

[27:41] board meeting that that property

[27:43] formerly was used for that purpose in

[27:46] the past so we basically asking to

[27:49] revert it to a previous use I'll make

[27:53] that motion so I see

[28:02] [Music]

[28:05] excuse

[28:07] okay so I think the planning board has

[28:11] recommended this to do

[28:15] this it

[28:23] backal he now I'll make a motion okay

[28:27] got a motion there

[28:36] motion second all in

[28:39] favor four of okay that

[28:48] pass okay we got another public

[28:52] he this is

[28:54] for public hearing for 2024

[28:59] 2025 Town part of

[29:04] budget speak to that yes sir as we

[29:08] discussed previously prior to adopting

[29:11] the fiscal year 2425 budget U State

[29:15] Statute requires the uh holding of a

[29:19] public hearing with any person with any

[29:22] interest uh is allowed to make comment

[29:25] which the council would take into

[29:29] consideration prior to adopting that

[29:32] budget the budget itself budget

[29:36] ordinance may be adopted at any point

[29:39] following the conclusion of the public

[29:41] hearing uh be it at this meeting or if

[29:46] there's a need to have another special

[29:48] meeting prior to the end of the month

[29:52] just keep in mind that the fiscal year

[29:54] does conclude on June 30 and a budget

[29:58] being

[29:59] adopted basically Town operations would

[30:02] cease so I'm not trying to put any

[30:06] urgency upon the council if you feel the

[30:08] need to have future meetings to discuss

[30:13] however time is growing somewhat short

[30:17] so conduct the public hearing and then

[30:21] consider whether or not you need to have

[30:24] fut me

[30:28] to

[30:51] speak I've been in sarta since

[30:54] 2008 um I continued my career

[30:58] Administration and that of historic

[31:00] properties and teaching history at the

[31:02] college level once

[31:05] here um I noticed that on your budget

[31:09] propos budget you have an allocation for

[31:12] the alls Cil the allig Arts Council was

[31:18] reconstituted um some years ago six

[31:21] seven years ago um with the blessing of

[31:24] the North Carolina Arts Council which

[31:28] gives funding to those qualified arts

[31:32] councils in their site um which is

[31:37] matched in the

[31:39] community um our particular Arts Council

[31:44] has uh succeeded in raising private

[31:46] funds as well as receiving public funds

[31:50] from the state the county and from the

[31:53] town and I just wanted to encourage you

[31:57] to

[31:58] approve give your final approval to

[32:01] thatst

[32:02] now some years ago back right after I

[32:07] came here in 2009 we had that major

[32:10] recession and we lost almost all of our

[32:14] art teachers in the uh public schools

[32:17] now we have regained a number of them

[32:20] but number of our local organizations

[32:23] and um private nonprofit organizations

[32:28] in the Arts Council who more and more is

[32:31] working with individual artists

[32:34] musicians um working with um literary

[32:38] interest in books clubs and other

[32:42] aspects bringing programs into the

[32:46] schools programs into the community has

[32:49] done a marvous job when I was teaching

[32:53] of history at the college level I always

[32:56] included

[32:58] uh the Arts

[33:00] architecture

[33:02] um the um

[33:04] literature um and the sciences and

[33:09] technology and they really help to uh

[33:14] make life in a community wor living we

[33:18] have our traditional Hearts here and we

[33:20] are also required to um provide

[33:24] programming through the art coun for

[33:28] Hispanic and African groups is part of

[33:32] that so I would just like to encourage

[33:36] you as private citizen to continue your

[33:39] support

[33:40] thearts than you very thank

[33:48] you okay coming out of public care

[33:52] now all

[33:55] right we got uh

[34:01] 24 or 25 public car

[34:04] coordinates can you speak on

[34:07] that yes sir as

[34:14] we job position I just wanted to c a

[34:17] couple of things um the respons it's

[34:20] responsible for 25 fulltime employees

[34:23] parttime employees and a 2.1 million

[34:26] Town budget

[34:28] uh you're talking about the $15 million

[34:31] sewer

[34:32] project and other grants and whatever so

[34:35] there a lot more money than that to be

[34:38] managed and spent and procured in proper

[34:42] way uh the minimum requirements for a ba

[34:46] or BS degree referred with the NPA

[34:49] national uh Masters in public

[34:53] administration experience in local

[34:56] government knowled of federal state and

[34:58] local laws regarding town government the

[35:01] background in Planning and Zoning human

[35:08] resources and finance are great greatly

[35:11] desired candidates should possess the

[35:13] abilities in areas of budgeting Planning

[35:16] and Zoning Economic Development grant

[35:19] writing public works

[35:22] consens very important Community

[35:25] involvement internal extend term team

[35:28] building and the town manager is

[35:30] considered the budget officer for the

[35:33] town I urge you to hire the most

[35:36] qualified candidate don't make a mistake

[35:39] please like the county did in hiring

[35:42] someone following Don Adams years ago

[35:45] it's an important position budget

[35:48] responsibilities is the key factor

[35:50] Sparta has a very competent finance

[35:52] officer py show in place right now but

[35:55] she will answer to the p

[35:58] there are two sides to a budget some

[36:00] think it's only expense management but

[36:04] equally important is the managing of

[36:06] Revenue sources including grants

[36:09] applications and procuring state and

[36:12] federal money and all state and federal

[36:15] funded

[36:17] grants require properly documented

[36:20] applications with detailed descriptions

[36:22] of the project and the cost of

[36:25] projections sales tax is your

[36:28] largest piece of your

[36:30] revenue for the town of Spartan it's

[36:33] almost

[36:34] 30% and exceeds that of property tax we

[36:38] all know that the expense size of the

[36:40] budget as you talked about here will

[36:42] continue to go up as we keep up with the

[36:44] cost of

[36:46] L the new town manager M needs to work

[36:51] in

[36:52] increasing the sales tax revenue that

[36:55] the County residents

[36:58] those from surrounding counties and

[37:00] those who visit the counties pay sales

[37:02] tax Town Spa members don't pay a lot of

[37:06] that so Town residents we don't want

[37:09] them to have to pay all Community

[37:11] projects that increase sales revenue

[37:15] include supporting small businesses and

[37:18] activities that bring people to

[37:21] Sparta that should be a priority top

[37:25] priority for our new town manager

[37:28] this is the biggest decision you all

[37:29] will have to make in this 10 10 year of

[37:33] your office uh whatever time your

[37:36] service

[37:37] is don't make a hiring Mistake by not

[37:41] getting the most qualified candidate

[37:45] the thank

[37:55] youest this is

[37:58] a little

[38:00] unusual I want to bring it up front of

[38:03] the council I've never

[38:06] been uh they're W some people that want

[38:09] to have a small

[38:12] wedding at the stage CR

[38:16] Park uh told me it's be just about six

[38:20] people there it's on

[38:22] Monday and I couldn't say yay or n there

[38:28] I know bring see what

[38:32] they

[38:43] personally let use well we we did set up

[38:47] R schedu for everybody to rent

[38:49] facilities I don't think we said they

[38:52] couldn't could could or could not have a

[38:54] wedding assume that if they comfortable

[38:57] they pay the fee then don't have problem

Town Council. June 4, 2024

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