In addition to its variety of other duties, the members of the Kinston City Council have been tasked with redeveloping a large area of the city.
Council members recently voted unanimously to be designated as an “urban redevelopment commission” to oversee projects within the Urban Redevelopment Area, or URA.
“For now I’m recommending that council establish itself as the urban redevelopment commission in order to get more direct oversight,” Interim Planning Director Adam Short said during this week’s City Council meeting.
The URA is bordered by West Lenoir Avenue on the north, the Neuse River at the south, North Mitchell Street at the east and the Glen Raven Mills textile plant and former city power plant at the west.
Kinston’s historic Mitchelltown neighborhood takes up much of the targeted area.
“You want to try to preserve the uniqueness of the neighborhood and the houses that are there,” Councilman and Mayor pro tem Joe Tyson said Friday. “The council is going to try, in the process of revitalizing Mitchelltown, to maintain it’s uniqueness as we go forward.”
Tyson gathered with fellow Councilman Sammy C. Aiken — who is also a Mitchelltown resident — Short and Mitchelltown resident Kathie Harrington at Garner Funeral Home Friday, which is on the edge of Mitchelltown off West Peyton Avenue.
Harrington, who has lived in the neighborhood for about four years on Mitchell Street, encouraged city officials to continue to deal with crime in Mitchelltown.
“And I think that they seriously need to talk to these property owners, some of whose homes are falling down,” Harrington added. “They should either fix them or refurbish them before they fall down and become a hazard.”
A number of people have purchased houses in Mitchelltown in recent years to refurbish and beautify them, and they stand out among homes which have long been neglected. The neighborhood has also become known for crime.
While much of it is considered nuisance crime, two homicides took place within a few blocks of each other on West Lenoir in June of 2011.
Kinston resident Thomas Hinton was slain as he rode his bike home from work, and U.S. Marshal Warren “Sneak” Lewis was shot and killed a few days later as he and fellow law enforcement officers served warrants on the men and youths suspected of the Hinton homicide.
City leaders said the Kinston Department of Public Safety is working with Mitchelltown residents to keep the crime in check, though.
Aiken, who said he has been a victim of several burglaries, and Harrington recognized the efforts of Kinston business leader Stephen Hill, who has funded the revitalization of a handful of houses in the Urban Redevelopment Area.
“It's a good thing,” Aiken said. “We need to clone a couple of Mr. Hills and thank him for his philanthropy and get some more private citizens to invest.”
As an urban redevelopment commission, the City Council would have the final word on “development issues” such as large-scale development projects, financial matters, land acquisitions, accepting land donations and more, Short said.
Rose Clark, past president of the Mitchelltown Preservation Commission and current member of the Historic District Commission, said she though the concept was a “good thing,” as long as council members sought out “advice and direction from the stakeholders that have an interest in Mitchelltown, like the homeowners, private investors, the Historic District Commission members.”
David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or David.Anderson@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at DavidFreePress.
BREAKOUT BOX:
Interim Planning Director Adam Short presented the following timeline for the City Council’s redevelopment efforts in the Urban Redevelopment Area:
Jan. 28: Planning Board qualifies URA based on survey of housing stock
Feb. 7: City Council adopts resolution to confirm Planning Board assessment of ‘blighted’ areas and sets URA during public hearing
Feb. 8: Work begins on staff-developed Redevelopment Plan
Feb. 25: Planning Board reviews Draft Redevelopment Plan, followed by 45-day comment period
April 15: Council adopts redevelopment plan after public hearing
Source: Interim Planning Director Adam Short memorandum