By Hugh Fisher
hfisher@salisburypost.com
KANNAPOLIS ó In the first meeting of 2009, the City Council approved a measure allowing City Manager Mike Legg to negotiate with Rowan County over money to repair the main road leading to Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium.
Stadium Drive has been closed since heavy rains washed away dirt around a bridge and along the banks of a stream leading into the Lake Fisher reservoir. A section of the road leading up to the bridge was also undercut by storm runoff.
Kannapolis hopes funds from Rowan County’s stadium fund will provide a quarter of the cost ó estimated at up to $75,000 ó to repair the bridge. State emergency funds are expected to pay the remaining three-fourths of the bill.
Estimates to repair the bridge run around $300,000. But Legg said the actual cost would likely be lower.
“We applied for state assistance, public assistance funding, through the Division of Emergency Management,” Legg said.
If those funds are approved, the city would have to come up with 25 percent of the cost of repairs.
Legg said that money should come from the stadium fund set up by Rowan County using revenues from the facility. That same fund is being used to pay tens of thousands of dollars in electricity payments to Duke Energy after a billing error was discovered in recent weeks.
Legg said he has spoken with Rowan County manager Gary Page and said he understood the request for funds should be accepted.
“One, we applied for these (state) funds as a municipality that was affected … and two, we do roads and the county does not,” Legg said.
The council voted unanimously to authorize Legg to negotiate the agreement with Rowan County.
Legg estimates repairs will take two to three months after funds are released, followed by two to three more months for inspection and approval.
In other business:
– Council members approved the first round of changes to the 2015 Land Use Plan which reflect growth related to the N.C. Research Campus.
But residents of areas west of Kannapolis voiced concerns about the city’s continued expansion in their region.
City Planning Director Ben Warren said a re-examination of the 2004 guide for growth and zoning was called for because of changes that have occurred due to the coming of the Research Campus and the desire to support related growth.
The updated plan shows new roadway connections to N.C. 73 and Kannapolis Parkway and suggests larger expanses of land formerly earmarked as prime neighborhood business sites now be thought of as potential mixed-use developments.
The plan also highlights possible paths for new roads. “Our goal is to promote interconnectivity between developments to reduce traffic along Kannapolis Parkway,” Warren said.
Some areas formerly marked as mixed-use developments are now seen as prime locations to receive the Campus Development zoning classification.
Campus Development allows limited multifamily developments as a conditional use, as well as limited commercial and light industrial use.
“Campus Development’s intent is to encourage more job creation,” as opposed to other areas weighted more toward retail development, Warren said.
The designation allows commercial and light industrial applications and also allows limited multifamily developments as a conditional use.
The Research Campus itself is slated to eventually feature these different uses within one site downtown, and the zoning designation will allow such a mix outside of the campus proper.
But residents who live in western Kannapolis and unincorporated areas nearby are concerned about the city’s plans for growth.
During a required public hearing, four residents spoke about a number of issues, including some concerns not related to the land use plan.
Fred Wally, a community leader who was involved in a failed attempt to incorporate the Odell community two years ago, said he was very disappointed by the city’s actions. According to Wally, the city has cast residents of the area unfairly as opponents of any growth.
“We are not the opponents. We are citizens,” Wally said. “We should be accorded equal rights.”
“We have tried to work with you, we will continue to try to work with you in areas where we think you’re right,” Wally said.
Marilyn Barnhardt, who lives in the Farm Hills community within the western growth area, said she was angry because the city does not offer water and sewer service nearly a decade after annexation.
“I’m disillusioned … I’ve always been disillusioned with the city,” Barnhardt said. “They’ve done nothing for me in Farm Hill since the day we came in.”
But Richard Flowe, principal planner with N-Focus Design, called the Land Use Plan “an excellent guide” for those working to develop the area in an orderly way. Flowe spoke to the council in favor of the changes, although he mentioned several potential changes to a map of proposed road connections. Legg said those would be taken into consideration.
“We have taken a look at this plan, myself and people that I work with, and we feel the city’s on the right track,” Flowe said.
N-Focus’ projects in the region include The Village at Kellswater Bridge, a residential and retail development on Kannapolis Parkway within the Coddle Creek planning area.
The council approved the changes unanimously.
– Council members also heard reports on the cost of replacing bridges at Orphanage Road at Irish Buffalo Creek and at Eighth Street, among other places. No action was taken.