By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
Salisbury City Council acted quickly Tuesday to approve demolition ordinances for two houses, including the fire-damaged, abandoned home across from Salisbury High School.
The house at 517 Lincolnton Road belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Michael A. Williams.
The house at 1220 Tabernacle St. is the property of Helen Campbell.
Council’s action directs Code Services Manager Chris Branham to have the city remove the structures “due to being unfit for human habitation and dilapidated to an unsafe condition.”
The Lincolnton Road house across from the high school was seriously damaged by a fire on Aug. 27, 2007. For a time, reaching a resolution on the property was hampered by insurance proceedings, Branham said.
On Dec. 11, 2008, both owners were given 30 days to repair their structures and bring them into compliance with the city’s minimum housing code, but neither secured a building permit to perform any repairs.
The city’s cost for doing the demolitions will be placed as liens against the properties.
Before the fire, the assessed value of the house and property at 517 Lincolnton Road was $132,627.
Campbell’s house and property on Tabernacle Street is on the tax books at $38,107.
In other business Tuesday, council:
– Approved the acceptance of private streets in the Hidden Creek Subdivision as public streets, which means they will be maintained by the city in the future.
– Approved on second reading the voluntary annexation of a 99.9-acre section of the Rowan-Cabarrus Community College campus. The annexation is effective immediately.
A second reading was required because an affirmative two-thirds vote of the five-member council is required to adopt an annexation ordinance. The first vote Jan. 20 was 3-0, because Mayor Susan Kluttz and Councilman William “Pete” Kennedy were in Washington attending the presidential inauguration.
– Approved the use of recycled concrete as part of road construction in the Lone Hickory subdivision off Morlan Park Road. The use of the recycled concrete will be a test site for the city. The N.C. Department of Transportation has allowed the use of recycled concrete as a base material in road construction since 1992.
The test site will involve only two streets. The regular city standard for residential streets is more expensive compacted aggregate base course, or ABC stone.
Developer Joe Mathis made the request to the city to use recycled concrete in his project.
– Approved a request from the Andrew Jackson Masonic Lodge to make Water Street and the 300 block of West Cemetery Street one-way in the southbound direction for the lodge’s annual Brunswick Stew sale Feb. 26.
– Heard from Kluttz that she joined other members of the N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition in visiting U.S. Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Kay Hagan, D-N.C. in their Washington, D.C., offices in January.
Kluttz said the mayors reminded the senators that their cities have many shovel-ready projects that could benefit from an economic stimulus package. In Salisbury, those projects would include the Interstate 85 sewer project and the city’s building of a fiber-optic cable utility, Kluttz noted as examples.
In attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting during the same trip, Kluttz said she was encouraged by the emphasis the Obama administration is placing on the importance of broadband technology expansion to the nation’s economic recovery.
A $6 billion wireless and broadband grant program is part of the stimulus package, according to Kluttz.
“Our city is ahead of the curve,” she added. “… Now it’s a national movement.”