By Josh Bergeron

josh.bergeron@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Two months after his death, the City Council on Tuesday will consider a request to name the Brenner Avenue section of the greenway after community advocate William Peoples.

The Brenner Avenue greenway is one of many areas where Peoples, who died in March, focused his community advocacy. He successfully fought for streetlight son Brenner Avenue and Old Concord Road and fought for sidewalks where there were none. He also worked as a community advocate on citizen boards and in other local groups.

When Salisbury’s Brenner Avenue was set to receive streetlights in 2009, People said he was ready to see the city “turn the switch on.”

“I feel like the crusade I put up for street lights and sidewalks was well worth it,” Peoples told the Salisbury Post in 2009. “People will feel safer.”

The Salisbury City Council will consider naming the greenway on Brenner Avenue for Peoples during its 5 p.m. meeting on Tuesday, which will be held at City Hall. The formal name would be the William C. Peoples Jr. Walkway.

On Tuesday, the council is scheduled to receive a presentation about the renaming and consider establishing a 30-day period for public input about the idea. If the renaming receives approval after the comment period, there would be a formal ceremony scheduled on the greenway, according to Tuesday’s agenda packet. Signs would be installed on the greenway noting the new name.

Tuesday’s agenda packet also gives a short summary of Peoples’ contributions to Salisbury.

“Mr. Peoples was respected by citizens and city staff as being a long-time community leader,” the agenda packet states. “Mr. Peoples’ commitment to the community, in particular the West End, is well known by many in being a voice for the residents of Salisbury.”

Before reaching the Salisbury City Council, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board unanimously approved the proposal.

In other business on Tuesday’s agenda:

• The Salisbury City Council will receive a copy of the fiscal year 2017-2018 budget and consider setting a public hearing for June 6, 2017.

• For a second time, the City Council will consider a rezoning request from Catawba College.

At its first meeting in May, the council delayed a decision on the rezoning request because two council members were absent. The council held a required public hearing during the first meeting in May. Two people spoke against the request and one person spoke in favor.

The rezoning would change several residential tracts of land to the institutional campus designation, which allows for future campus expansion. It would also change roughly 100 acres of land to the city’s open space preserve designation.

As currently proposed, the rezoning omits a once-controversial proposal to change land to the south of campus to the institutional campus designation. With the omission of controversial aspects, the rezoning passed the Salisbury Planning Board earlier this year.

• The council will consider awarding a contract to Waste Management in the amount of $365,640 for curbside recycling.

The contract would last three years and provide 96-gallon carts to be picked up every other week.

• The council will receive a report about re-striping North Main Street from the railroad tracks to the northern city limits.

The N.C. Department of Transportation plans to resurface North Main Street from the railroad tracks to northern city limits this summer. In conjunction with the request, city staff will hold a meeting for the North Main neighborhood at 5:30 p.m. today in the conference room at City Park to discuss options for re-striping the same area.

City staff will present a report about the proposal during the council’s meeting on Tuesday.

• The City Council will go into closed session for an economic development matter and a personnel matter.

• The City Council will receive an update from the police chief.

Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246.