By Karissa Minn
kminn@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY ó County commissioners approved a lease Monday that will bring a skydiving operation to the Rowan County Airport, as long as the operators agree to begin to pay a fee earlier.
The operator, Jim Laningham, originally planned to have an aircraft flown in on weekends to accommodate skydiving. According to Rowan County Airport Director Thad Howell, he now would prefer to base and hangar the aircraft at Rowan County Airport. He requested that the $250 per month for rent be paid in lieu of the drop zone fee.
The county agreed, but Commissioner Jim Sides moved that the lease be changed so that Piedmont Skydiving LLC (formerly Skydive Rowan) begins paying a $1 fee per jump to the county during the first year rather than the second.
ěThis is to compensate us for dropping the drop zone fee, which is $100 a month,î Sides said.
Commissioner Raymond Coltrain asked if this would be bad for the business. Chairman Chad Mitchell replied that if the company wants to negotiate terms, it will have to bring those back to the county. The lease was approved unanimously with Sidesí change.
In other news, the Rowan County Board of Commissioners approved a contract Monday to provide planning and zoning services for China Grove. The contract now must be approved by the China Grove Town Council.
County staff would provide administrative planning functions,enforcement activities and inspections within the town and its extraterritorial jurisdiction for $1,500 per month.
In a memo to county commissioners, County Planning Director Ed Muire wrote that the town manager asked the county Planning and Development Department if it could provide services to China Grove.
ěStaff is of the opinion that addition of these duties can be successfully administered by current staff while also creating an additional revenue source,î Muire wrote. ěThis additional revenue, combined with other departmental budget cuts for (fiscal year) 2011-12, will remove the need to eliminate a position within the department.î
At Mondayís meeting, commissioners also:
Set the public hearing for the countyís 2011-12 budget on June 6. The county will begin its meeting at 3 p.m., take a recess and come back at 5:30 p.m. for a public hearing about volunteer fire departments that plan to raise property taxes. The general budget hearing will begin at 7 p.m.
Agreed to allow an attorney from Parker Poe to represent the county and request dismissal of pending action by Richard and Dorcas Parker. The Parkers filed actions in the Rowan County Superior Court challenging the countyís decision that a zoning permit was required for a radio broadcast tower.
They did not file their August 2009 appeal before the required deadline and requested a 20-day extension, which research revealed is not valid for this type of appeal, according to county planning staff. A second petition filed in Superior Court in September 2010 challenging the decision also was found to be invalid.
Donated a surplus stretcher to the Rockwell Rural Fire Department.
Approved a few budget amendments.
Proclaimed May 15-21 as Law Enforcement Week.
Proclaimed May as Shield-A-Badge With Prayer Awareness Month.
Contact reporter Karissa Minn at 704-797-4222.