City Council - Regular Meeting

We're back to the first one in August, so welcome, glad that you're with us. As we always do, we'll start with a moment of silence, and then we'll remain standing for our Pledge of Allegiance. As we go to that time, please keep the Roberts family in your thoughts and prayers, please, father and son who were tragically killed. uh this past week uh and i think at the coast i don't know a whole lot about it but we do want to keep them in our their thoughts and thoughts and prayers and the family pleases as they move forward uh with those kind of things terrible terrible situation so we're really sorry about that so if you will please now rise join me for a moment of silence Thank you. We salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Tonight, our first order of business for the agenda is a matter scheduled for public hearing. Our first tonight is a zoning ordinance amendment. This is ZOA 1-26. We'll hold this hearing to consider approval of a text amendment to allow an educational facility in various zoning districts. The applicant, Water Life Church, is requesting an amendment to add educational facility defined in Article 4 as including public and private K-12 schools, college, universities, and technical institutes to the permitted use chart. Staff is recommending approval of the ordinance amendments based on the following consistency statement. The proposed zoning amendment is consistent with the 2045 comprehensive plan in that initiating zoning changes within target areas to encourage development is a primary proactive strategy. In the long term, Adjusting the ordinance to account for all forms of educational facilities would effectively encourage a variety of developments in growing areas serving families. This amendment would also help to revitalize vacant and historic sites such as the West Lenoir Elementary School site and potentially encourage future academic opportunities at the old Lenoir High School campus. One of the primary goals of a planning department is to always be figuring out ways to simplify, streamline, or make the zoning code easier to understand and implement for long term. This zoning amendment accomplishes that goal. I will open the public hearing and I will introduce our planning director, Hannah Williams, for her comments, please.

Thank you so much. So I have just a couple slides for you. When the applicant, Water Life Church, asked planning staff how to reuse the West Lenoir Elementary School site as a private school, I realized two things about the zoning ordinance. That private schools were not accounted for on the permitted use chart. and that the R-12 zoning district did not allow for public school use. So this public school building couldn't be reused for a public school if that were being sought. So I advise that they apply for a text amendment to add educational facility as a use to the permitted use chart. So currently the zoning ordinance provides for daycares and preschools, It provides for public schools through the public service facility use and for vocational and specialty schools. But it does not include private academic institutions. It doesn't include colleges or universities anywhere on the permitted use chart. It probably has in the past, but over time, consolidation and things, it's no longer there. THE DEFINITION SECTION OF THE ZONING CODE CONTAINS THE DEFINITION FOR EDUCATIONAL FACILITY, AND IT IS A FACILITY FOR THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN AND OR ADULTS INCLUDING PUBLIC AND PRIVATE KINDERGARTEN, ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, TECHNICAL INSTITUTES AND UNIVERSITIES, BUT EXCLUDING SPECIALIZED TRADE SCHOOLS AND NURSERY SCHOOLS. So the text amendment itself would add educational facilities as a permitted use by right in B2, general business, B3, our central business district, B7, the highway business district, and O&I, office and institutional district, and as a special use in several residential zones, R6, R9, R12, and RC. It would also remove schools from the definition of public service facility to eliminate overlap. So in summary, here's a chart. It's also in your staff report, I believe on page three of the staff report for the zoning amendment. And it shows that educational facilities would be permitted in those zones that I read out, special use in those residential districts that I read out. And then this also shows where public service facilities are. Basically, the only difference in location of where public service facilities are allowed today and where educational facilities would be allowed is the industrial districts. I doubt a school would ever want to locate in an industrial district anyway, but a public service facility like an EMS space or a firehouse may want to locate in an industrial district. No schools in our area are located in industrial right now, so it doesn't create any nonconformities to take schools out of the public service facility. So planning board reviewed this at their July meeting, and they recommend approval of the request and adoption of the consistency statement that the mayor read for the record. That concludes my prepared comments. If you have any questions, please let me know. The applicant is also in the audience tonight.

Thank you. Anna, any questions? Yes, sir.

Should we add pre-K to this because there is a lot of pre-K? And it might be roadblock if it's not in there.

Sure. I will say that child care centers and preschools are accounted for in another use in the zoning ordinance, and it's called child care center. And it is allowed as a special use permit in residential and permitted in these districts. It's just a different definition.

If someone had a school and pre-K, would they have to do a separate permit?

Oh, that is a good question. Yeah, I see what you're saying there.

It's okay to think about it for a minute. Because it may cause some overlap.

Yeah. I wish I had the zoning ordinance in front of me and I could tell you exactly where they're allowed. Sure, I'll take a minute.

I just don't want somebody to have a permitting problem or to open a pre-K...

When we're here to discuss that tonight. Right.

Right.

Keep us from having an issue later.

Well, his statement was he thinks it's already allowed, but we. Yeah.

well i mean if we're gonna if the definition is going to split them up then it's a potential argument that if you have an educational facility that includes pre-k that it doesn't include it if we've got a definition for pre or i guess she said child care and preschool and then definition for educational facilities i would think getting one for educational facilities necessarily excludes child care and

There are more allowances in our zoning ordinance for daycares and preschools and there are in this zoning amendment a daycare center is a special use in rural residential and The R12, R9, R6, it's permitted in RC, and it's permitted in all of the commercial districts and industrial districts, except for in the B6, where it's also a special use. And B6 is a transitional business district. So there are wider allowances for daycares than there are for the educational facilities. I believe so. I believe so.

Okay.

PROBABLY ADD A CONDITION TO ANYBODY'S PERMIT TO ADD THAT.

ABSOLUTELY. YEAH, GREAT POINT FROM THE CITY MANAGER THAT IF THEY WANTED TO HAVE, IF A PRIVATE SCHOOL THAT APPLIES FOR A SPECIAL USE PERMIT IN A RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT WANTED TO INCLUDE DAY CARE OR PRESCHOOL, THEY COULD APPLY FOR THAT IN THE MOMENT AS WELL. AND THE ORDINANCE WOULD ALLOW FOR THAT IN THE RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS.

Any other questions from the council at this time? Okay. Thank you, Hannah. We are still in the open. We are in the public hearing. So if anyone would like to address the council at this time concerning this zoning ordinance amendment as presented, this is the time to do so. If you do, please come forward and give us your name and address. If you'd like. I don't see anyone rushing the podium. All right. I will then close the public hearing since no one is coming forward and turn it over to council for any more discussion and or motion when you are ready.

I would like to note that, for the record, I have attended Water Life in the past, and I would just like to let the council know if anyone has any issue with me voting on this issue. I've not attended since January, and I didn't know anything about this until just recently, but I do want to make note of it.

Any issue with that?

I don't think it's an issue for either one of these. It's potentially an issue for the special use if we get to that. But I don't see it as a comment. I've previously been a member of that. Okay. Or attending.

All right. Thank you. All right. Any other discussion or comments? You ready? We'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve the zoning ordinance amendment, DOA 1-26, as presented.

Okay. We have a motion from Mayor Pro Tem Perkins that we approve the zoning ordinance amendment as presented. Any other comments? Good discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. With a consistency statement, yeah, that would be included in that. Yeah, what he said. Is that all right? Sure. Thank you. All right, that motion was unanimous. Thank you for that. All right, we'll move on then to the second public hearing, which is the special use permit. This is SUP 2-26. This is for Water Life Private School, West Lenore Elementary School at 117 Maple Drive NW. This is a quasi-judicial hearing. It will be held to consider a request to reuse... the vacant building located at 117 Maple Drive as a private school. Planning Board recommends approval of the requested special use permit for the private school with the following conditions, which I'm going to allow Planning Director Hannah Williams to present to you in a few minutes. Mr. Warr, you want to go ahead and talk about that?

I just said this last week, so you're going to hear it from me again. Let me remind everyone about quasi-judicial hearings. I've got my little guidebook to remind me exactly what to say. We appreciate it. Unlike the previous hearing, which was a legislative hearing, which the council could have heard people say, we don't like it, we like it, that sort of thing, and they approved that, this is now a quasi-judicial, it's an evidentiary hearing. This means that it's like a court hearing. There are specific procedures that this council has already put in place for consideration of quasi-judicial matters. your discretion is limited. There's basically a checklist of things that the applicant must meet. If they meet those things, you must approve the permit. If they don't meet them, you can't. The board has to base its decision upon competent, relevant, and substantial evidence in the record. So just like last week, anyone who speaks has to be sworn. It's actual evidence. It's not a popularity contest, so you can't, unlike the previous hearing, you couldn't have someone say, you know, I just don't like this. I don't think you should approve it because I don't want a school near me or something like that. The meeting obviously is open to the public. But only certain people can participate. If this were a more contentious hearing, occasionally you would have attorneys that would object and present evidence and that sort of thing. But people can't offer opinions unless they're qualified as experts. So if someone were to stand up and say, this school will bring in too much traffic in the neighborhood, they wouldn't be allowed to say that. They'd actually have to have a traffic expert that's done studies and that sort of thing. So that's sort of from the side of people that are testifying. On your side, as you already mentioned, you wouldn't want to have a trial in front of a judge who had already decided the case ahead of time or was best buddies with the opposing party or something like that. So the parties are entitled to an impartial board. You can't participate if you have a fixed opinion about the matter, like if your view is... No more schools anywhere. We have enough schools. You wouldn't be allowed to vote on this. If you had a financial interest in the matter, so if you were on the board of the Water Life Church, it might be inappropriate for you to appear. Or if you have a close relationship with an affected person, like if you were married to one of the applicants or they were kids or something like that, you can't have anyone who's, well, if someone has contacted you about this beforehand you have to disclose it and if you've engaged in a conversation with them you would have to recuse yourself if you've gone out to the site saying oh there's the special use permit i'm going to go check out the site again you can't you wouldn't be able to participate then or at least you would have to disclose it uh... again you if you were having a trial about a boundary line you wouldn't want the judge to have gone out ahead of time to take a look at the property or something like that so Spelling all that out, does anyone have anything they need to disclose about any involvement they've had with this or ex parte communications?

All right.

Turn it back over to you.

Thank you, sir. Thank you for that. All right. We are in the public hearing now. I'll open the public hearing. Again, we'll bring our planning director, Hannah Williams, up. And, Hannah, you will have to be sworn officially at this time. Anybody that is planning to speak to this, if you would like to be sworn now, we can do it and then you won't have to do that individually. All right.

Another couple of slides for you this evening. All right, with the text amendment in place, we can now discuss the special use permit for the proposed private elementary school at 117 Maple Drive, the location of former West Lenore Elementary School. Following the closure of the school in 2021-2022, it was sold to a private owner, Hasso Holdings LLC. It's zoned R12, and the property is about four acres. Water Life Church is considering developing a private school at this site. Here's a zoning map of the property. This is the property. It's R12. R12 is that brown color. Most of this neighborhood is R12. It does butt up against R9, a multifamily zone. It's also in a study listed, a National Register study listed neighborhood. And this is a map from the State Historic Preservation Office. That green polygon is around what is considered Fairfield Park, a historic neighborhood. And that means there's many intact historic elements in the neighborhood. The orange dots are properties that have been surveyed and noted for historic qualities. There's nothing binding these properties to remain historic at this time. However, should the city pursue getting the neighborhood on the National Register in the future, we would want to preserve those historic elements. So there are some conditions of approval for the subject school building. And these were drafted by planning staff in consultation with the State Historic Preservation Office so that those historic qualities remain. The brick exterior of the building must not be painted, stuccoed, in any way obscured, nor the decorative brick patterns altered in any way. The concrete accents, including the parapet coping, the cornice, the swag relief panel, and the stones around the entrances must be retained. No additions shall be attached to the existing school building. If accessibility ramps are needed, these should be added to the side or rear elevations. An existing window and door openings must be retained. The current windows and doors do not appear to be original to the building. If the current windows and doors need to be replaced, the material should fit within the existing openings without requiring openings to be resized and filler material should be avoided. So those are the conditions of approval. There are a set of eight findings that must be met prior to approval and I'm going to read those now for the record. With regard to development standards, the applicant has no plans to expand the exterior structure of the school, so all building heights and setbacks will remain the same. With regard to driveways and egress, current driveways and parking will remain in place as the applicant is not planning an expansion to the buildings. All patches, holes, or other deficiencies of the paved areas on site will need to be repaired by the applicant so as to come into compliance with design standards, as well as to prevent any safety issues for pedestrians, drivers, students, and staff of the proposed school. With regard to off-street parking, the existing parking area is adequate for the intended use of the development. With regard to impacts on surrounding property, the usage will have a similar or lesser impact than the previous school that occupied the building for many years. As for screening and landscaping, a vegetative buffer of 15 feet must remain in place or be restored on the southern property lines. The applicant will maintain that plants and if any need replacing, new plants will be planted in accordance with the city's zoning ordinance. As for signage and lighting, the applicant will use a six foot tall monument sign with 32 square feet of lettering or copy area. It will be designed to have low impact on the neighboring properties. As for the architectural appearance, the applicant will maintain the historic nature of the structure. No additions to the current West Lenoir School building will occur. As for the hours of operation and intensity of the use, the school will have a similar impact as the previous school. The children and parents that attend will sign a code of conduct stating it is a privilege to attend and must adhere to a standard level of conduct. Applicant states that 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. will be the hours of operation. Um, planning board, uh, again, discuss this in their July meeting and recommends approval of their requested special use permit for the proposed school with the historic, uh, conditions, um, that I read for the record. I would also like to submit the staff report for the record. That's a great idea. That concludes my prepared comments. And if you have any questions, I'm available.

Thank you, Hannah. Anyone have any questions or.

Comments for Hannah in any way?

Concerning this special use permit.

I have a couple questions. Go ahead. Hours of operation 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Does that mean they cannot have like an evening concert?

I think that is meant to be the typical hours. We could adjust that here in this hearing if needed.

I mean, it's fine. I just want to make sure that we have clarity on that. Because I know there will be some times where they need a nighttime event for parents. And with the concrete at the front of the building, proposed language says to maintain those things as they are. Which concrete?

In the historic qualities?

Yeah, but I mean, you're looking at the building. You're thinking of something.

Yeah, right there. So it says to, how does it work? Must be retained Yes, yes number two up there so When it says it must be retained If something becomes Structurally unsafe something of that nature Do they need to put it back with the way it looks originally? Yes, okay and then for Knowing the age of that building fire code as part of the permitting, will they have to bring things to modern fire code if it wasn't already?

So I am not a building inspector, so I'm not certified in the North Carolina building code, but my understanding is that historic buildings need to meet something called existing building code, and Caldwell County Building Inspections is very familiar with that, and I imagine that they'll be able to work with what they have. Yeah, okay.

Okay. So that would be Caldwell County... Once something were to happen, permitting, they would be taking that part of it. We'd have to meet all of that.

Okay. Are you saying the building in its current status would meet that, or they would have to meet the current, 2026 status?

My understanding is that historic buildings and structures, they don't have to meet everything a modern, brand-new building will have to meet. That there's a way to meet the North Carolina Building Code without having to put, like, everything modern inside of it.

I think that would be a big issue for them running the school. Right. I just didn't want them to be strapped.

Sure, yeah, or having to put on an addition, and then they're not able to put on an addition, certainly. I'm not really able to speak about the building code, but I do know for other historic properties, especially in downtown Lenore, there are architects that can design things to meet the existing building code, something called existing building code, because it's an existing building.

recognizing that it can't meet everything modern without completely taking the building down question thank you anyone else have any questions concerning this special use okay Thank You Hannah

I do have one thing. Shall we edit the eighth condition about hours of operation to allow for occasional evening uses for school functions or something like that?

I would say that probably would be good to do.

Okay. With occasional, okay. I'll read that for the record as I've amended it. The school will have a similar impact as the previous school. The children and parents that attend will sign a code of conduct stating it is a privilege to attend and must adhere to a standard level of conduct. Applicant states that 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. will be the hours of operation with occasional evening uses for school functions.

That sounds great. I think that covers it. That'll set a good model for the next time.

Pre-K, you want to add that?

That might be a question for the applicants. So. Preschool, high school addition.

Send the big dogs up this

And we know who you are, but just give us that for the record. That may be a liability.

But anyway, yes, we would like to amend that to allow for the potential of a preschool if we deem that in the future.

Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you. All right. Before I close the public hearing, is there anyone else who would like to address the council at all? You can still be sworn and all that. Okay, seeing no one, I will close the public hearing. I'll turn it over to council for any more discussion or action when you are ready.

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve the special use permit SUP 2-26 as presented.

Thank you, sir. We have a motion from Council Member Stevens that we approve. The special use permit, SUP 2-26, as presented by staff, planning staff, to the council.

And as amended.

Do what? And as amended. And as amended, thank you.

Adopting findings of fact.

Add that, please, to that. Thank you. That's why we pay you the big buck. Thank you for that. No other discussion. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed? Thank you. That carries unanimously. Thank you. Thank you for being with us this evening. We appreciate that. All right, we will move on then to consent agenda items on our agenda. Tonight we have the minutes of our city council meeting of Tuesday, July the 28th, 2026. And item B is the approval. This is a preliminary settlement report. The request that the city council accept the preliminary settlement report as required by the North Carolina General Statute NCGS 105-321 and 352. and that the insolvents report be entered into the official minutes indicating persons whose taxes remain unpaid for 2025. Also request that both lists be recharged to the tax collector for collections along with the taxes for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026 as provided by the law in accordance with the North Carolina General Statute NCGS 105-321 and 352 as submitted. That's our items for the consent agenda item A and B. Open it up for any discussion or motion when you're ready.

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve the consent agenda items A and B.

Thank you. Council Member Presswood makes a motion that we approve consent agenda items A and B as presented. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed. Thank you very much. Now time on our agenda for a request and petitions of any citizens. If there's anyone who would like to address the council, this is the time to do so. I believe all of our guests have left, except for all of our staff. Thank you for being here and reporter. We appreciate you guys being with us. Do you have anything to add or say? You're done with the time. Okay. We'll move on. We do not have any reports of our boards and commissions this evening, so we'll move on. The reports and recommendations of the city manager, Mr. Hildebrand.

Mayor, council, all I have tonight is some items for information. The North Tourism Development Authority will meet on Thursday, August 6th at 4 o'clock at the Gilded Vale over hill, and that's located at 3110 Indian Grave Road. Also, the Tomatoplast event will be held on Friday, August 7th from 6 to 7.30 p.m. at the Unity Park and Community Gardens. Also, Friday night we have a concert downtown with Deacon Black. That will be held again Friday, August 7th from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the stage. The 52nd Annual Harambee Festival will be held on August 8th through the 14th. Events will be held daily at the MLK Center, and all those events can be found at StephenLenore.com on our website. And I will mention that this is the oldest continuous festival in Caldwell County. The ABC Board will meet on Wednesday, August 12th at 2 o'clock at the ABC Store, the main store. Lenore Business Advisory Board will meet on Thursday, August 13th at 6 o'clock, 3rd Floor City Hall. The Southern Sundown 4-Miler Race will be held on Saturday, August 15th, beginning at 7 p.m. The race will begin and end at Liquid Roots Brewing Project. And lastly, the Parks and Recreation Board will meet on Monday, August 17th, 6 o'clock, and that's going to be held at Mulberry Recreation Center. If you have any questions, I'll try to answer those.

Any questions concerning anything coming up? There is a ribbon cutting in the morning at the U7 Brew Coffee Shop. 9, 45, 10 o'clock. I think it's 10 o'clock in the morning. So I'll invite you to that if you'd like to be there. So anyway, glad that new business is opening up in our community for sure. And Harambee, of course, is always a great event. All this next week will be fun. It starts on the 8th with a fence up at the King Center outside, and there's different items that will be going on all week, including the recognition banquet on Thursday, the senior citizens this Tuesday, and there's game night and several other things. So I hope you will come out. Yeah, and congratulations to be presented to... Our own council member, Chrissy Thomas, who will be inducted into the Black Sports Hall of Fame to Friday evening at the MLK Center. Congratulations to you. She was a great athlete once upon a time. Still is. I think she still plays some, so we'll see. But anyway, congratulations for that. A couple of state championship teams back in those days, wasn't it? Yeah. I don't remember correctly. 85, 86. 85, 86. How about that? Back to back. Back to back. Yep. That's great. All right.

Anybody want to add to that? Anything? Okay.

Mr. City Attorney, anything else for review? No, sir. Thank you, sir. I do not have any other recommendations of anything tonight. We've talked about so much the last two weeks, there's not much to add to anything, but it's been a really busy time in the summer. Hope you will enjoy the concerts and the many events that are still going on through August and through into September. There's a lot still to happen, and we'll be celebrating 250 for as long as we can this year, so enjoy that. Any reports from any of our council members? Anything to come up? Okay, if nothing else to come before us, we stand adjourned.