By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
Salisbury City Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday on a citizen’s offer to donate 3.6 acres at 223 N. McCoy Road if the property would be used for a neighborhood park.
Council meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 217 S. Main St.
Walter Tatum wants to honor his late wife, Francis, with the gift to the city of Salisbury.
If the city would accept the land for a park, Tatum’s offer would include the house on the property.
The property could serve both the Meadowbrook and Milford Knoll neighborhoods between Statesville and Jake Alexander boulevards.
Park officials have said that as a neighborhood park, it would be “not a drive-to, but a walk-to” recreation facility.
In August, the Parks and Recreation Department sent out 375 invitations to property owners within a half-mile radius of the site. City officials then held a Sept. 4 informational meeting with those residents at Milford Hills United Methodist Church on Statesville Boulevard.
About 40 people attended, showing both support and opposition to the idea.
In another public hearing Tuesday, council will consider a resolution approving installment financing for the proposed building of a fiber-optic cable utility to be owned and operated by the city.
Approval of the resolution would then allow the city to seek approval from the Local Government Commission to issue debt. If the Local Government Commission gives that approval, council would decide whether to proceed with the debt financing.
The start-up costs of the cable utility are estimated at approximately $30 million.
City staff members have been working with financial advisers and debt attorneys over the past several months to secure financing that would be necessary to fund the utility for Internet, telephone and television services.
A city delegation recently traveled to New York in hopes of improving the city’s credit rating in anticipation of issuing debt for the project.
In other agenda items Tuesday, council will:
– Consider a resolution related to identity theft protection for the city. Municipalities with utility operations are subject to rules under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003. The city is required to develop a program to identify, detect and respond to the red flags of identity theft because its utility provides a service for which payment is deferred until a future date.
– Receive a presentation from Livingstone College regarding a grant to be used for gang prevention.
– Consider a resolution declaring two radar units as surplus and authorizing their transfer to the town of Cleveland for public use.
– Consider parking ordinances for North Park Drive near Catawba College.
– Consider ordinances concerning right-of-way use by contractors.
– Consider closing the 200 block of Mitchell Avenue from Crosby to Blair streets, from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Oct. 31 for the Fulton Heights Halloween Parade.
Council meetings are streamed live at www.salis burync.gov/council/webcast. html and are shown later on Time Warner Cable’s ACCESS 16.