ABERDEEN – The Town of Aberdeen Board met Monday, Jan. 22, starting with an approval of an increase in the off-duty police hourly rate from $45 to $70 starting in February.
“A lot of officers are not wanting to work off duty because of pay,” said police chief Brian Chavis. “I called around to surrounding agencies. The Moore County Sheriff’s Office non-holiday rate is $50 an hour, their holiday rate is $70 an hour. Southern Pines Police Department is $55 for non-holidays and they’re in the process of increasing that. Pinehurst Police Department off-duty ranged from $45 to $60 an hour.”
With the new rate, officers will receive $55 per hour with the remaining $15 of the increase contributing to FICA, retirement and worker’s compensation costs.
Three public hearings were held, starting with a conditional zoning request to rezone approximately 2.88 acres of undeveloped property currently zoned as R-20 to allow for the placement of a manufactured home on the property.
According to the applicant, the purpose of the request is to be able to relocate their elderly parents closer to them on a vacant section of their land. While a stick-built home was considered, they could not separate the proposed parcel from their existing mortgage nor could the parents finance a home on property not in their name.
The board denied the request over concerns about a lack of fit with the local neighborhood and the projected negative impact that a manufactured home would have on the surrounding property values.
The second hearing considered approval of a watershed permit to allow for expansion at the Pet Lodge of Pinehurst.
“The current business… is probably the busiest pet lodge in all of Moore County and they’ve outgrown themselves,” said Planning Director John Terziu. “They need to expand and have the land available right next door to them.” The board approved the request.
The final hearing was for a text amendment to Chapter 4 of the UDO to update language related to the location of fuel pumps and canopies in order to allow for them to be located in front of the building line of a structure.
“Currently, the UDO states that canopies must be behind the frontline of the building,” Terziu said. “It also says that the front of the building has to be addressed off of the street facing area. We’ve been running into issues in the technical review committee because on certain lots, it’s very hard to place a fuel canopy behind the frontline of the building while also having the front face of the building be street-facing.” The amendment was approved.
The board also approved the reappointments of Holly Bell and Angela McKew to the Downtown Aberdeen Advisory Board, the acceptance of a $457,066.75 financial guarantee for street trees and sidewalks from the developer of the Collinswood subdivision to allow for final plat approval without the immediate installation of the public right-of-way improvements, and the acceptance of $250,000 CVB grant award for improvements to the sportsplex.
The Aberdeen Town Board will next meet Feb. 26.
