KANNAPOLIS — The city began discussions of a strategic plan, dubbed Imagine Kannapolis, in 2022, with an eye toward starting projects in the plan in 2025 and with an eye on a five-year and a 10-year goal.

At Monday night’s city council meeting, 16 budget amendments representing the first of those projects were on the table. The council readily approved funding for upfits to city hall to accommodate the growth in employees, but other items were not as cut and dried.

Rather than have 16 separate items, several were packaged together in each amendment aside from city hall construction.

Budget amendment 25-04 included six projects for a total of $1,214,761. Included were: 1) Block 10 Park contribution, 2) I-85 monuments design and bidding, 3) fire department logistics building design/scoping, 4) MLK Bridge enhancements contribution, 5) Rogers Lake Road grade separation enhancements contribution, and 6) The Gem Theater phase III renovations design and part construction. According to city documents, “the projects in this budget amendment are more operational in nature and all should be completed within the current fiscal year, but still may need to be capitalized for those projects where the city will own the asset.”

The amendment passed by a vote of 5-1.

Budget amendment 25-05 included four projects for a total cost of $813,242.  Projects include: 1) fire department training tower planning and design, 2) Western Cabarrus transmission tower planning and design, 3) Main Street parking planning and design, and 4) Oak Avenue parking lot full project cost. The projects in this budget are generally smaller projects, some with multi phases and therefore in multi-year funds.

The amendment again passed 5-1.

Two other amendments were tabled when council members expressed a variety of concerns. Budget amendment 25-06 represented a total cost of $2,601,000 and included three projects, and budget amendment 25-07 had a total cost of $1,634,347 and included two projects.

Included in 25-06 were 1) Midway revitalization – phase I planning and design, 2) Eastside Park design and construction administration, and 3) public works operation center renovations full budget. Of the funds needed, $1,194,750 would come from the General Fund and $1,406,250 from the Water and Sewer Fund. The projects in this budget amendment are traditional large capital
projects that span over multiple fiscal years, and may have debt proceeds or outside funding(grants) tied to them.

Amendment 25-07 included 1) cultural arts facility/history museum – first year funding set aside, and 2) downtown Block 6 public-private partnership investment – first year funding set aside. Funding for these projects will be in individual, stand-alone funds so the funding which is set aside specifically for these purposes can be properly tracked.

Several council members expressed unease with proceeding with the Midway project without further discussion and noted that they were not sure about committing to a renovation of public works without at least taking a tour of the facility. In addition, nearly the entire council had concerns about moving forward with a cultural arts center or history museum without having a more definitive understanding of what the city actually wants to create. So both amendments in total were tabled.

City Manager Mike Legg noted that in several instances when money was to be “set aside,” the city would not actually be spending any money, but simply transferring it to a different account should a project move forward.