County’s Mall request comes back to City Council Tuesday

Published 12:00 am Monday, March 2, 2015

Salisbury City Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday on the county’s latest request to house government offices at the former Salisbury Mall.

Nearly five months after council denied a county request to have “government services” be a permitted use at the county-owned mall, the issue will come up again. This time, the county’s request is in the form of a Conditional District Overlay — last year it was a special-use permit.

When council denied the request last year, council members asked the county to redo the request in the form of a Conditional District Overlay.

A CD has more flexibility than a special-use permit and allows the city to have more of an input in the matter, and it can be amended in the future.

Last week, the city’s Planning Board approved the county’s request under three conditions:

The first condition is that the county’s proposed outside-storage area at the rear of the mall property must be visually blocked off from the residential area adjacent to the backside of the mall. Second, outdoor kenneling would not be allowed at the site — preventing the county from having an animal shelter at the mall. Third, Class 2 and 3 utilities, as defined by the city, would also be excluded as a use. This is so the county can’t turn the the property into a landfill or build a utility, such as a wastewater plant, at the site.

City Council can keep these conditions, drop them or discuss different ones.

The county has new leadership as a result of November’s elections — in which the mall was a major issue — and it appears relationships among the city and the county are on the mend.

Due to a lack of space, the county wants to put its Veteran Services and Board of Elections offices in the mall, along with the maintenance department.

The county’s request does not put a limit on the amount of space at the mall that could be used for government services — this was an issue with the city the last time around.

City Council meets at 4 p.m. at City Hall.

In other business Tuesday, council will:

• Consider a resolution authorizing a contract, worth $194,795, with CCI Systems and also consider designating the company as a sole-source provider for the city. The city needs to update the core routers for its network, which CCI Systems has experience working with.

• Receive a petition requesting the permanent closure of an alley in the 600 block of North Church Street. Council can adopt a resolution declaring its intent to close the alley and set a public hearing on the matter for April 7.

• Consider adopting an ordinance to restrict parking along the east side of the 200 block of North Fulton Street where First Baptist Church has installed a handicap ramp.

• Consider adding bicycle lanes on Confederate Avenue between Clubhouse Drive and Henderson Street.

• Recognize the Salisbury High School lady’s golf team for winning the 2A state championship and Salisbury High’s Kayla Honeycutt for winning the 2A state championship in singles tennis.