Damage was visible early Friday on the Antiquity covered bridge. (Robert Lee photo)

A driver apparently hit the side of the covered bridge on South Street leading to the Antiquity Cornelius neighborhood Thursday night or Friday morning. Reader Robert Lee happened on the scene around 6:45am. He found pieces of wood and automobile trim littering the road. No word yet on who or what caused the damage.

An architect’s rendering shows a potential town arts center in the Antiquity neighborhood. The town would contribute about $3.5 million to a potential public-private partnership to build the facility.

The Cornelius Town Board spent much of its meetings Monday night talking about bonds. Specifically, the board is considering seeking voter approval as early as November to issue up to $20.4 million in bonds to pay for street repairs and sidewalks, parks and recreation and greenways and a proposed community arts center on the east side of town.

With board member Dave Gilroy absent, the board put off until at least June 17 a vote on the proposed 2013-14 budget. The budget as proposed would keep the property tax rate at 24 cents per $100 of assessed value, end leaf pickups with the town’s vacuum truck (bagged leaves still will be collected) and and pay for sidewalks, the Diverging Diamond interchange design enhancements at Exit 28, and other projects.

Commissioners also approved a new town fee schedule, which among other things enshrines in town law the fees to be collected under the new false alarm ordinance.

The board also held a closed session after the regular meeting to discuss two items, a legal matter and a contract.

Project summary         Group name       Amount
Street Improvements     Public Works     $3,500,000
Spray Park 	        Redevelopment       500,000
Sidewalks 		Public Works 	  1,000,000
Greenway 		PARC		  1,500,000
Art Center 		Redevelopment 	  3,500,000
---------------------------------------------------
Subtotal of 2015 Issue                  $10,000,000

Street Improvements 	Public Works     $4,000,000
Sidewalks               Public Works        650,000
Neighborhood parks 
development
renovation/ expansion   PARC              2,000,000
Robbins Park 		PARC		  2,000,000
Greenway 		PARC 	          1,750,000
---------------------------------------------------
Subtotal of 2019 Issue  		$10,400,000
---------------------------------------------------
Total Bond Package 		         $20,400,000

BOND QUESTIONS

The board spent its 6pm “pre-meeting” and about 45 minutes of its regular meeting Monday discussing potential bonds and strategy for winning passage. The town staff’s $20.4 million proposal is based on the town’s current revenues and borrowing power. Town officials said the referendum could require a tax increase of 1 or 2 cents, but would take advantage of historically low bond interest rates to take on projects that might otherwise have to wait years.

Map shows the locations of potential sidewalk and greenway projects that would be the subject of a bond referendum. Click for more about the bond referendum proposal.

The bond referendum is still just an idea, and there did not appear to be a consensus among board members Monday on the plan. The board will need to decide soon – possibly by month’s end – if it wants to put bonds on the November ballot. If voters OK the bonds, they likely would be issued in at least two waves, in 2015 and 2019,

Commissioner Chuck Travis argued that the proposal seemed too heavily weighted toward parks and recreation. Noting that the town already has good park facilities, he suggested shifting some of the money toward public works and roads.

By meeting’s end, the board and staff had come around to the idea of three separate bond questions, which would fund the following general areas and amounts:

• Public works, including streets and sidewalks – $11,150,000
• Parks & recreation and greenways – $5,255,000
• A community and arts center, and “spray” or “splash” park- $4,000,000

The board asked its own and and outside lawyer a variety of questions about the possible referendum, including how general or specific the questions needed to be. The town still will need a strategy for pitching the bonds to voters.

During the public comment section of the regular board meeting, resident Robert Jakaitis told the board he wasn’t sure of the rationale for issuing bonds. He admitted to not attending any previous discussions about the bonds, but asked, “What I’m missing is why. Why are you doing this?”

Commissioner Jeff Hare took up the challenge. “Interest rates today are 2 1/2 to 3 percent. It’s basically free money, so we can basically accelerate projects today that we’d otherwise have to wait 10 to 20 years,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hare added, “A lot of it is really a reinvestment back into the town, to make sure we maintain our quality of life and to improve our quality of life.”

About half of the money raised through the bonds would pay to bring sidewalks to most parts of town that don’t yet have them, and fund needed road improvements and intersections. But the bonds also would pay for amenities, such as a recreation and community center to be built somewhere east of I-77. A drawing presented at the meeting showed the arts center in the Antiquity Cornelius neighborhood, east of NC 115.

“Our intent is to revitalize our east side of town,” Mayor Lynette Rinker said.

RELATED COVERAGE

See lists of potential projects to be completed with bonds, including street and sidewalks and a new arts center, on the Town website.

See the full agenda on the town website.

May 21, 2013, “Budget vote delayed, pending revaluation news; town eyes $20M bond referendum”

Public officials and officials involved in the Antiquity Heights project cut a ribbon Friday. (David Boraks photo)

By DAVID BORAKS
CorneliusNews.net

State officials including House Speaker Thom Tillis, Sen. Jeff Tarte and the head of the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency celebrated a grand opening Friday at Antiquity Heights, an complex of 94 affordable apartments that opened last summer. Read the full story

A developer plans to tear down the rear section of Magnolia Plaza (above) to make way for the grocery and new retail shops (David Boraks/CorneliusNews.net)

By DAVID BORAKS
CorneliusNews.net

A Florida developer has filed plans with the Cornelius Planning Department to demolish part of the Magnolia Plaza shopping center off West Catawba Avenue and construct what town officials say will be a Publix supermarket.

The Florida-based supermarket chain hasn’t publicly confirmed a lease at the site, but the developer, Halvorsen Development Corp. of Boca Raton, FL, is the company’s shopping center development partner. The shopping center is owned by B.V. Belk. Read the full story

Fog covers a field in the Antiquity neighborhood. The view is west toward NC 115 and downtown. (David Boraks/CorneliusNews.net)

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The Cornelius Town Board is expected to vote Monday on two development projects – the proposed expansion of auto dealer Lake Norman Hyundai off I-77 Exit 28 and a complex rezoning for Pender Pointe, a single family home John Conner Road in the Peninsula neighborhood. Town Manager Anthony Roberts also will present the board with his recommendation for the 2013-14 town budget. Read the full story

Panorama shows work on the sinkhole Friday, May 3. Click to enlarge. (James Sanders/CorneliusNews.net)

Workers have begun rebuilding Old Canal Street in the Antiquity neighborhood, where a sinkhole has the road closed. Town officials and the developer say fixing the sinkhole will require removing soil and a damaged retaining wall in the area, then rebuilding the wall and refilling the site.  Read the full story

What a week for first responders in Cornelius. This weeks’ Fire Calls column reads like a list of Hollywood disaster-movie ideas: The 44 calls for Cornelius-Lemley Fire and Rescue over the past seven days included a bomb threat at the high school, a washer explosion, a large sinkhole, and numerous calls for a smell of natural gas. More information about these and others below, along with a tally of this week’s medical calls. Read the full story