Vance County Manager Jordan McMillen provided WIZS News with a summary of the Vance County Board of Commissioners’ meeting held on Monday, April 1, 2019. McMillen’s reported highlights from the meeting include:
“We didn’t have any public comments but did have one individual who came back from last month to voice their opinion against the discussed rezoning. Their basis was not wanting commercial activity in a traditionally residential area. The commissioners tabled this matter one additional time and requested that the applicant provide a valid survey of the area to be rezoned with the idea of keeping half of the property on the Edwards Road side as Residential and rezoning the half facing US 1 bypass as General Commercial. It appears the board is open to the rezoning once this is provided, but they have made no decisions. I would anticipate a decision on this at the May 6 board meeting if a survey is provided.”
The board set two public hearings for the May 6 meeting for potential amendments to the zoning ordinance to allow accessory structures in front yards and also one concerning RV/Camper Regulations.
“I believe the bigger one may be the RV/Camper Regulations and I could anticipate some board discussion on this next month. For the most part, the question concerns regulations vs. property owner rights. The proposed amendment would eliminate the temporary use of RV/Campers outside of RV Parks. The state already prohibits permanent living in RVs/Campers. This will most likely have an effect on someone who owns a vacant lot and brings their camper/RV for a weekend or during the summer.”
In regards to moving the Vance County Department of Social Services to the former Eaton Johnson Middle School building:
“We are continuing our negotiations with the school system and I believe this will move forward very soon. Our board did proceed last night to authorize me to negotiate a contract with Oakley, Collier Architects to get the ball rolling on this project.
Regarding Henderson Middle School, the board declined the school systems offer to provide the building to the county at a fair market or negotiated price. For the most part, our board felt it would be difficult financially to take on both Eaton Johnson and Henderson Middle School at the same time. Our commissioners did offer to assist the school system with any costs to ensure the building is added to the historical register to ensure the architectural character is maintained.”