This entrance into Pinehurst South will be closed for about five days for completion of the long-awaited safety signals but could be longer if bad weather interferes with the work.
Motorists are requested to use a temporary detour route on Monticello Road off N.C. 5 to Parker Lane, which will bring them into the business park. Parker Lane runs to the U.S. Postal Service at Blake Boulevard.
“We’ve all been working toward this safety improvement for several years,” said Pinehurst village Engineer Jay Gibson. “Motorists are requested to allow a bit more travel time for any trips in this area, since there may be some delays. Motorists should follow all work zone signs to help ensure the safety of the workers as well as the motorists.”
The N.C. Department of Transportation and the Aberdeen, Carolina and Western Railway is doing the work with federal funds under a Railway Corridor safety project. One of the conditions of the receiving was that the Village Council close two of seven roads within the corporate limits that cross the tracks from N.C. 5.
The council closed Carter Road and the extreme Southern Entrance to the Harness Track in September.
The remaining five crossings that are open will get safety crossing upgrades as part of the project.
Village Manager Andy Wilkison announced the plans to begin installing the signals last week at a council work session.
For at least nine years, he said, the railway has been concerned about liability at the Blake Boulevard crossing. The three parties, including property owner, Harris Blake, haggled over the issue for a long time before working out the agreement a few months ago, enabling the work to be paid for with federal funds.
A regular Pinehurst Council meeting Tuesday, which lasted about 15 minutes, few people spoke during a series of four public hearings.
No action was taken, but a second public hearing will be held at the Nov. 24 council meeting, then the council could vote at that meeting.
The first hearing was on a village request to rezone two parcels containing 70.33 acres fronting on N.C. 211 on either side of Pinewild Country Club’s main entrance and abutting residential properties on the back. The two tracts consist of 105 parcels of land, with multiple owners.
Mayor Steven Smith said a written statement by Pinewild resident Ted Shebs is being incorporated into the council public hearing record because Shebs could not be present Tuesday at the Assembly Hall.
Shebs supports the rezoning, as did the Pinewild homeowners’ association at a Planning and Zoning Board public hearing.
The advisory board recommended that the council approve the rezoning. Three owners of the undeveloped highway frontage property opposed rezoning on grounds it would devalue their property. They spoke during the hearing held by the planning board.
The other public hearings drawing no comment were on a proposed amendment to the zoning ordinance prohibiting the use of standing seam and corrugated metal roofing on single-family residences within the Old Village Center Overlay District; and a housekeeping amendment for single family building permit applications that would reduce the number of exterior color and material samples and driveway permits, but add to the number of plans required for the Planning and Zoning Board.
The third public hearing was on amending the well field protection ordinance map to specify the 2,000 foot buffer surrounding public drinking water wells in which no irrigation wells can be dug to prevent pollution. The map is amended every time a new public well is planned to show the new protection zone.
