STOKES COUNTY GOVERNMENT
COUNTY OF STOKES DANBURY, NORTH CAROLINA
APRIL 1, 2008
The Board of
Commissioners of the County of Stokes, State of North Carolina, met
for regular session (Planning) in the
Commissioners’ Chambers of the Ronald Wilson Reagan
Memorial Building (Administrative Building) located in Danbury, North
Carolina on
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 at 7:00 pm with the following members present:
Chairman
J. Leon Inman
Vice-Chairman
Jimmy Walker
Commissioner Ron
Carroll
Commissioner
Ernest Lankford
Commissioner
Stanley Smith
County
Personnel in Attendance:
County
Manager K. Bryan Steen
Clerk
to the Board Darlene Bullins
Planning
Director David Sudderth
Chairman J. Leon Inman called the meeting to
order.
Commissioner Smith delivered the invocation.
Chairman Inman opened
the meeting by inviting the citizens in attendance to
join the Board with the Pledge of Allegiance.
GENERAL
GOVERNMENT – GOVERNING BODY – APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Chairman Inman entertained a motion to approve
or amend the April 1st agenda.
County Manager Bryan
Steen requested to add a closed session for personnel to the
agenda. The
Board agreed to add a closed session for personnel to the agenda.
Commissioner Lankford moved to approve the
April 1st agenda as amended.
Commissioner Smith seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
PUBLIC
HEARING – Proposed Stokes County Comprehensive Transportation Plan
Chairman Inman called
the public hearing regarding the proposed Stokes County
Comprehensive Transportation Plan to order.
The following spoke during public comments:
Martha Hartley
1100 Buck Meadows Lane
King, NC 27021
Re: Stokes County Comprehensive Transportation Plan
Ms. Hartley expressed the following concerns:
·
Proposed Transportation Plan doesn’t address the
transportation needs of Stokes County
·
Large population of Stokes County works outside of
the County and that is a transportation need that must be addressed
·
Large number of Stokes County residents shop
outside of Stokes County
·
Must prepare for the present and the future
·
Increasing fuel costs
·
Rising cost of transportation
·
Rising cost of imported food
·
Population growth
·
Climate growth
·
Backlog of maintenance of roads/bridges
·
Southern Connector which was proposed several years
ago may not be the best thing for Stokes County now
·
Lack of transportation funding
·
Invest in projects needed for Stokes County such as
rail connections, bike routes, bus service, commuter services, sidewalks, etc.
Ms. Hartley reiterated the need to get the County’s transportation
priorities in order.
Mo Hartley
1100 Buck Meadows Lane
King, NC 27021
Re: Stokes County Comprehensive Transportation Plan
Mr. Hartley noted the need for Stokes County to plan for the
future. Mr. Hartley noted that part of
Stokes County (City of King) falls under the Winston Salem Urban Area Thoroughfare
Plan, and is not included in this proposed Transportation Plan. Mr. Hartley noted the need for a
Comprehensive Land Use Plan for Stokes County.
Mr. Hartley stated that the Southern Connector should not be approved on
the Transportation Improvement Plan and should not be included on the proposed
Comprehensive Transportation Plan. Mr.
Hartley noted that no decision should occur regarding the proposed
Transportation Plan until a Comprehensive Land Use Plan has been developed with
citizen input for Stokes County.
Chairman Inman closed
the public hearing.
PROPOSED
STOKES COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE TRANSPORTATION PLAN
Planning Director
David Sudderth noted the following regarding the proposed Stokes
County Comprehensive Transportation Plan:
·
Proposed Comprehensive Transportation Plan is being
provided by NCDOT with assistance from the NWPCOG along with citizen input
·
Presented to the Planning Board on Thursday, March
27th
·
Planning Board by vote of 7 to 0 recommended
approval of the plan and maps
·
The Town of Danbury held a public hearing on
February 27th at which time they approved a resolution of support
for the proposed plan and maps
·
The Town of Walnut Cove held their public hearing
on March 4th and later approved a resolution for support of the plan
and maps
·
Proposed plan is necessary because the County does
not currently have an active approved plan on file
·
Active approved plan is needed in order for the
State to allow the County to participate equally for NCDOT Funding in District
9
Dr. Wayne Davis and Andy Bailey (NCDOT) along
with Marc Allred –NWPCOG
were present for tonight’s presentation.
Mr. Andy Bailey
presented the following power point presentation:
·
Purpose of a Long Range Transportation Planning
o
To identify existing and future deficiencies in the
transportation system
o
To identify multi-modal elements
o
To develop feasible solutions to address problems
o
To provide information and data to help guide
future transportation decisions
·
Product of a Long Range Transportation Planning
o
Comprehensive Transportation Plan
·
Benefits of a Long Range Transportation Planning
o
Integration with land use planning and the
development process
o
Minimum disruption for citizens
·
Transportation Planning Process
o
Initial meetings
o
Establish a plan schedule, public involvement plan,
and community vision
o
Conduct goals, objectives, survey
o
Assign roles and responsibilities (local, regional,
state)
o
Collect, project and endorse data
o
Analyze deficiencies and develop alternatives
o
Recommend and adopt a plan
o
Technical Report
o
Corridor Protection
o
Programming
·
Comprehensive Transportation Plan is a 20-25 year
plan
·
Transportation Improvement Plan is a 7 year plan
·
Thoroughfare Plan 1984 was adopted and the most
recent 1997 Thoroughfare Plan that was not adopted by Stokes County
·
Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP) is for
highways, transit/rail, bicycle, and pedestrian
·
Thoroughfare Plan is for highway element only
Mr. Bailey requested the Board of
Commissioners consider approval for the Highway
Map, Rail/Public Transportation Map, Bicycle Map
and submitted Transportation Plan.
Planning Director
Sudderth noted that the rail map needed to be amended to show
that the rail near Brook Cove Road has been
abandoned and does not exist.
The Board reviewed the
maps submitted by NCDOT.
The Board discussed
the need for a Comprehensive Land Use Plan, City of King being
placed in the Winston Salem Urban Area Thoroughfare
Plan instead of being included with
Stokes County, and whether a Comprehensive Land Use Plan would be
beneficial to an already
adopted Transportation Plan.
Mr. Marc Allred stated
that the federal government takes data from the Census Bureau
which allows the MPO to take the City of King into
the MPO. The County has no control over
the City of King being placed in the MPO.
Mr. Marc Allred noted
that if the County did develop and adopt a Comprehensive
Land Use Plan, the County could request to the RPO to have their
Transportation Plan redone.
Dr. Davis noted funding would play a big part in whether the County
could get their
Transportation Plan redone before it was due.
Planning Director
Sudderth noted that a Comprehensive Land Use Plan would take time
and funding, it could not be done in house. Director Sudderth also noted the need to
receive
input from all the towns, cities, communities, and
as many citizens as possible in the County in
the development of a Comprehensive Land Use Plan
in order to make it work for Stokes
County.
Commissioner Carroll
noted that a lot of the proposed Transportation Plan is
improvements to existing roads in Stokes County. Commissioner Carroll questioned what
would be the cost for the improvements, what does
the state’s revenue picture look like, and
how realistic is the proposed plan.
Dr. Davis replied that
the proposed Transportation Plan would give Stokes County an
opportunity to compete for funding if funding is
available.
Commissioner Carroll
also noted that some of the project proposals on the proposed
plan were on the first Transportation Plan
approved in 1984 and expressed concerns that the
proposed plan could be misleading to the citizens.
Director Sudderth
reiterated that the proposed plan would at least give the County an
opportunity to compete evenly with other counties and the
state for available transportation
dollars.
Commissioner Lankford
noted the some of Highway 8 has been widened, but there is
an urgent need for Highway 8 to be widened all
the way to the Virginia Line.
Chairman Inman
entertained a motion.
Commissioner Lankford moved to approve the
submitted Comprehensive
Transportation Plan, all three maps with the correction on the rail map
that the rail near Brook
Cove Road has been abandoned and does not exist and to place a
Resolution on the April 14th
agenda for the Board’s consideration. Commissioner Smith seconded the motion.
Vice Chairman Walker requested information
about the pedestrian part and when would
it be presented to the County.
Dr. Davis noted the pedestrian part should be
finished by the end of this year.
The motion carried (4-1) with Commissioner
Carroll voting against the motion.
Vice Chairman Walker
noted that his vote was based on the flexibility that provisions
would allow the County if there was a need in the
future to reconsider if for example the
County adopted a Comprehensive Land Use Plan.
PUBLIC
COMMENTS
There were no public
comments.
Economic
Development Commission (EDC) Joint Meeting
County Manager Bryan
Steen informed the Board that EDC Chairman Worth Hampton
would not be able to attend the scheduled joint
meeting on April 16th.
The Board unanimously agreed to reschedule the
joint meeting with EDC for
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 1:30pm.
Sauratown
Mountain –Fire
Manager Steen updated
the Board on the recent fire on Sauratown Mountain. Manager
Steen informed the Board that Sauratown Vol. Fire Department had a fuel
bill of approximately
$9763 and would request to be able to use available lapsed salaries
from the fire district fund to
take care of the fuel cost. There would be no county funding and that EMS
Director Monty
Stevens had indicated that there was no state funding to assist in the
fuel cost.
The Board discussed
the request from Fire Chief Wayne Barneycastle-Sauratown Vol.
Fire Department.
Commissioner Carroll
noted that the eight-page document requires any emergency
request for fire district funding first must be
approved by the Fire and Rescue Association,
then by the Fire Commission and submitted to the
Board of Commissioners for consideration.
Commissioner Smith
noted that after speaking with the Forestry Service today, the
county could have been charged approximately
$200,000 for their services if the county
did not participate in the forestry cooperative.
The Board agreed that
the request should follow the eight page document guidelines.
Chairman Inman
directed the County Manager to contact the Fire/Rescue Association
and Fire Commission, then return to the Board.
CLOSED
SESSION
Chairman
Inman entertained a motion to enter into closed session for the following:
§
To
consider the initial employment or
appointment of an individual to any office or position, other than a vacancy in
the Board of County Commissioners or any other public body, or to consider the
qualifications, competence, performance, character, and fitness of any public
officer or employee, other than a member
of the Board of Commissioners or of
some other public body pursuant to
G.S. 143-318.11(6).
Commissioner Smith moved to enter into closed
session for the following:
§
To
consider the initial employment or
appointment of an individual to any office or position, other than a vacancy in
the Board of County Commissioners or any other public body, or to consider the
qualifications, competence, performance, character, and fitness of any public
officer or employee, other than a member of the Board of Commissioners or of
some other public body pursuant to
G.S. 143-318.11(6).
Vice Chairman
Walker seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
The Board returned to open session of the
April 1st meeting.
Adjournment
There being no further business to come before
the Board, Chairman Inman
entertained a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Commissioner Lankford moved to adjourn the
meeting. Commissioner Smith
seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
_________________________
_____________________________
Darlene M.
Bullins
J. Leon Inman
Clerk to the
Board Chairman