PINEHURST — The Village of Pinehurst Council met Tuesday, May 23, with two public hearings as well as a handful of ordinances on the agenda.
The council held two public hearings, with the first being for the FY24 proposed budget.
The proposed budget totals $26.9 million dollars which is 8% less than the amended general fund budget of the current fiscal year.
“Primarily, it’s less on the revenue side because we do not have the American Rescue Plan funds that kind of washed in over the last couple of years, and on the expenditure side, it’s lower because we had some significant capital requirements this year, whereas next year, we don’t have any big capital requirements,” said Village Manager Jeff Sanborn.
The proposed budget also includes a reduction of property tax rates by $0.08 from $0.31 to $0.23.
“We went through this revaluation that caused a lot of angst in the community about what the resulting tax rate would be,” Sanborn said. “To refresh our memory, the current tax rate is $0.31. In last year’s plan, we had forecasted that we would have a need to go to $0.315. But as a result of the revaluation, which increased the average property values in the Village of Pinehurst by 49.5%, we’ve developed this plan which starts us out at a budget tax rate of $0.23 for FY24.”
The significant capital projects in the FY24 budget include improvements to pedestrian facilities, stormwater drainage projects, garbage truck replacement, four new police vehicles, streetscape improvements, purchase of police dispatch radios, and a village-wide imaging system which amounts to around $2.8 million.
The second hearing was for the official zoning map and text amendments needed to implement the Village Place and Pinehurst South Small Area Plans and Form-Based Guidance Plans.
“These amendments would implement the vision of the recently adopted Small Area Plans and Form-Based Guidance Plans for Village Place and Pinehurst South, and that’s done so by adopting regulations or actual code,” said Planning Director Alex Cameron. “That would include the establishment of two brand new zoning districts, a Village Place and Pinehurst South Form Based district, regulating uses within these two new districts along with special requirements for development standards, establishing dimensional criteria for development within these districts, establishing the process for development or title approval and amending the plant palette for required landscape plantings. Essentially, what these amendments would do is to alter what the allowed uses are and what the developments would look like in the future.”
Following the hearing, the council approved the zoning map and text amendments.
Along with that approval, the council also approved the official expiration of the Pinehurst South Moratorium.
“We regret that the moratoriums for Pinehurst South and Village Place have lasted for two years,” said Mayor John Strickland. “That was not our intent. And going forward, we do not foresee a situation where the Village will extend the moratorium that would last for that period of time.”
The council then approved a contract renewal with Van Camp, Meacham & Newman, PLLC, for legal services for FY 2024. The contract has a total cost increase of 2% for an annual cost of $60,540.
Finally, the council also approved the charter by the Central Pines Regional Council, formerly the Triangle J Council of Governments, for the official name and branding change.
The Village of Pinehurst Council will next meet June 13.
