Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ On Tuesday Salisbury City Council gave Rowan County a taste of what it’s like to “do business in Salisbury”–a good old fashion “run around”. Salisbury City Council denied Rowan County’s request for a special-use permit for government services in the West End Plaza by a 4 to 1 vote with City Councilman Brian Miller being the lone dissenting vote.
Rowan County’s West End Plaza will have its governmental uses stalled at least temporarily until the county commissioners, their attorney Jay Dees, and County Manager Aaron Church huddle. According to County Commission Vice Chairman Craig Pierce plan B will likely include a trip to Superior Court to launch an appeal against Salisbury’s City Council’s decision to deny the special-use permit.
Although members of city council claimed their minds were not made up prior to yesterday’s city council quasi-judicial hearing, their behavior in front of the streaming video camera appeared to demonstrate some minds were already made up in advance. City Councilwoman Karen Alexander, during a particularly long stretch of her testimony, kept looking down at her “talking point” script and reading its often harsh arguments point by point after several long and dramatic pauses rekindling memories of 60’s quiz show contestants already schooled in the answers. It was almost as if Alexander channeled the invisible presence of a “mutually terminated” former city manager, intoning such phrases as: “Is all that government use appropriate for one of our busiest corridors?” “Could it allow a garbage dump or a water treatment plant?” “This decision will affect the community for decades to come.”
Maybe Alexander’s mind wasn’t made up, but the mind of her script clearly was.
As the proceedings wore on, it was easy to read the direction where it was headed and it wasn’t in the county’s favor. Anywhere else in the United States a county would’ve received an easy go ahead for a repurposed mall for mixed governmental, retail, and other uses except in the City of Salisbury. Our humble little burg is getting notoriety for its dire need to control and its historical lack of collaboration. And then blaming it all on the county.
So such valuable governmental uses as the Veteran’s Service Office and Board of Elections will have to wait until either legal remedies or some other plan B is found. Once again the City of Salisbury demonstrated they seldom heed their own advice about working collaboratively and “getting along”–it’s their way only. Yesterday they continued their publically self-absorbed role with Rowan County.
So the question is when the City of Salisbury thwarts the county’s requests and progress by making a major issue out of the county’s zoning needs for the West End Plaza, what will the county do next?
City Council voiced they were uncomfortable with issuing a special-use permit without Rowan County providing detailed plans about what will be placed in the West End Plaza. An irrational request by the city because the county’s space needs are not static–they are ever changing. Retail store leases are not set in stone and neither are governmental space needs.
Mayor Woodson claimed that issuing a special-use permit would give the county broad control over how the West End Plaza is used–that the city wants to work with the county to develop the property. Well Mayor old fella it’s county property and they bought it first and foremost for government use. Is the County dictating how the city Municipal Services building is used on MLK? Salisbury is a part of Rowan County. Should the County control what the city does? On second thought that might not be such a bad idea since the City of Salisbury has frequently demonstrated the dire requirement for legal guardianship–they have not managed their own affairs well. Basically none of their city services are in good working order, the city’s water and sewer infrastructure is crumbling, and Fibrant is universally acknowledged as a money guzzling flop.
Yesterday Councilwoman Alexander brought up the “idea” the county ought to develop a Conditional District Overlay for City Council to consider. This “CD” would require the county to create a master plan for the West End Plaza. Plans set in concrete. Like Woodson’s thoughts about the county’s control over their own property, Alexander’s idea needs to be side-armed into a trash can. This is not the City of Salisbury’s property–its the county’s. Salisbury doesn’t seem to understand where their boundaries begin and end–an especially poor mindset for a city that can’t seem to intelligently or responsibly manage their own affairs let alone someone’s else’s. No wonder businesses don’t want to come to Salisbury or remain here.
During yesterday’s proceedings the county even offered to set a space limit of 40,000 square feet for government services in the West End Plaza whose total square footage is 326,000 square feet. If the county desired to use more space for government purposes, they would request permission from the city. This offer was provided in the hopes it would allay fears of the county creating a mass exodus out of downtown Salisbury.
Rowan county’s planning and development director Ed Muire told city council their decision was confusing because city staff told him the special-use permit was the way to go. Vice-Chairman Pierce sounded frustrated about two hours later when we spoke on the phone. He wondered aloud why the county even went though the process in the first place of attempting to get a special-use permit and then was told yesterday to go do something else. “I can see why people complain about doing business in Salisbury.”
Plan B will not likely entertain Salisbury except as a defendant.
