The City of New Bern posted two “Notice of Public Hearing” signs for one application to rezone 597 Washington Post Road, but they show different dates.
Two “Notice of Public Hearing” signs were posted in reference to an application to rezone 6.96 acres of land at 597 Washington Post Road. One sign says Aug. 15 and the other says Nov. 12. The actual public hearing will be held during the Board of Aldermen meeting on Nov. 12 when the board will consider rezoning the property from an Agricultural A-5 district to a Residential R-6 district at 6 p.m. in the courtroom at City Hall in downtown New Bern, NC.
First “Notice of public hearing” sign
In early August, the City of New Bern posted a sign on the side of Washington Post Road that says, “Notice of Public Hearing” on Aug. 15 at 5:30 p.m. at 300 Pollock Street. There was no description and a QR code was linked to the Board of Aldermen’s Meeting Agendas and Minutes webpage. A public hearing was not held.
NewBernNow.com asked Kendrick Stanton, the city’s land and community development administrator, what the sign was pertaining to.
He said it was in reference to a rezoning application on the New Bern Planning and Zoning Board meeting agenda. The application noted the owner, Lucas Land Company, LLC applied to rezone the property at 597 Washington Post Road near the intersection of Olivia Road from an agricultural A-5 district to a residential R-6 district. There wasn’t a public hearing.
The P & Z Board met, but they did not allow public comments on the rezoning until after they voted 6-2 to recommend that the New Bern Board of Aldermen approve the request as previously reported here.
Second “Notice of public hearing” sign
On Oct. 22, the Board of Aldermen called for a public hearing to be held on Nov. 12 on an application to rezone land at 597 Washington Post Road and a second sign for “Notice of Public Hearing” was posted next to West Pleasant Hill Drive on Oct. 31, according to a report in the BOA meeting packet.
Third sign posted next to the “Notice of public hearing” sign
The city placed another sign next to the second “Notice of Public Hearing” sign that was almost identical. This one says, “Notice of public meeting.” It looks like it’s related to a rezoning application on the P & Z Board’s Nov. 14 meeting, not for a public hearing. The Planning and Zoning Board will consider a request to rezone 8.25 acres at West Pleasant Hill Drive, which is adjacent to the property at 597 Washington Post Road, according to the meeting agenda and packet here. The agenda does not show a public comment section.
The “Notice of Public Hearing” sign that was posted with the Aug. 15 date next to Washington Post Road is still standing as of Nov. 11.
In September, NewBernNow.com asked Colleen Roberts, the city’s PIO, “Why are the signs for public hearing being used when public hearings are not being held?”
“While we are not required to post the signs you’ve referenced, they are installed as a means of increasing participation in the quasi-judicial process and the decisions of the board. Additionally, they increase transparency on behalf of local government,” Roberts said.
Section 15-400 of the city’s Code of Ordinances says, “Notice of legislative hearing on proposed zoning amendments. Posted notice. When a zoning map amendment is proposed, the city shall prominently post a notice of the hearing on the site proposed for the amendment or on an adjacent public street or highway right-of-way.”
In other news
The Board of Aldermen will also hold two other public hearings on Nov. 12 and consider:
-Another 6% increase in the electric rate with a $0.015 power cost adjustment. The board approved a 6% rate increase in July as reported previously here.
-Rezoning of 6.85 acres of land at Neuse Boulevard and Kensington Park Drive. The summary of the rezoning request was previously reported here.
-The City of New Bern is working with a consultant to rewrite the city’s development and land use regulations. Visit Re-New Bern’s website for more information.
The full meeting agenda and packet are available here.
Meetings are live streamed on City 3 TV and on the city’s Facebook page. Recordings are normally uploaded to YouTube.
Food for thought
It looks like posting a “Notice of Public Hearing” sign with no description of what the hearing is about, with no intention of holding a public hearing, then leaving it for two months, then posting another sign almost a half a mile away with a different date next to another sign with another date will probably have the opposite effect of “increasing transparency on behalf of local government.”
NewBernNow.com reached out to Foster Hughes, the city manager, for comment but have not received a response by press time.
Editor’s note: We initially reported that the city placed a third “Notice of public hearing” sign next to the second sign that says, “Notice of public hearing.” The third sign says, “Notice of public meeting.”
By Wendy Card, Editor. Send an email with questions or comments.