Jimmy Melton, chairman of the Moore County Planning Board, has tapped Harry Huberth to chair the committee. Appointed to the committee with Huberth are Frank Maser, Terry Bryant and Richard Taute.
Melton told Pilot Light that the Planning Board will work hard to expedite the study procedure. He said a special meeting of the Planning Board may be called in May for the full board to hear from the review committee.
The Moore County Board of Commissioners accepted recommendations from a planning consultant at the April 21 meeting and agreed to turn those proposals over to the Planning Board for review and further recommendations. Once the Planning Board approves the changes, the revision will go back to the commissioners for a public hearing and final action.
MORATORIUM — Melton said he talked to Commissioners’ Board Chairman Michael Holden, and they agree that the matter should be expedited.
A speedy resolution would enable the county to lift a moratorium on new subdivisions that was imposed in February. The moratorium has generated numerous protests from developers whose projects are on hold until the subdivision ordinance is amended.
The commissioners sought the 180-day moratorium to give planners an opportunity to change the ordinance without facing an onslaught of last-minute applications before changes are enacted. County officials said the revision is needed in order to plug loopholes and to bring the county ordinance into full compliance with state regulations.
SMALLPOX — Moore County has accepted a smallpox inoculation policy that provides insurance coverage for any employee who takes the smallpox vaccination and suffers severe side effects.
Coverage will be provided through the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners’ Workers’ Compensation Pool.
Although the vaccine is given on a voluntary basis, most nursing and other personnel with the Moore County Health Department have agreed to undergo vaccination. They would be on the front line as first responders in a bioterrorist incident involving the smallpox virus.
The county commissioners approved the insurance measure as part of their consent agenda at an April meeting.
The federal government is covering the cost of the vaccine.
SUNSHINE — The commissioners have also agreed to ask the N.C. Department of Transportation to add Sunshine Boulevard and Sunshine Lane to the state road maintenance system. The roads are located off Sandpit Road near Aberdeen.
The board adopted a resolution asking DOT to consider the addition. The action was taken in response to a petition signed by nine residents of the area served by the two rural roads.
FURNITURE — An unlikely alliance of a conservative Republican and a liberal Democrat has been formed to work on problems within the domestic furniture manufacturing industry.
Congressman Howard Coble, a Greensboro Republican who represents Moore County in the 6th District, and Congressman Mel Watt, a Charlotte Democrat who represents the 12th District, are working to create a new caucus on this subject, according to an item in the Under the Dome column of The News & Observer of Raleigh.
Coble and Watt will co-chair the House Furnishings Caucus.
Although caucuses do not have legislative authority, they are effective when it comes to developing strategy for formation of specific legislative acts.
Furniture manufacturing remains a significant economic factor in North Carolina, in spite of a spate of closings in recent years.
