Commissioners sell first business park lot, end curbside recycling
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
Forsyth County commissioners took action toward selling the first lot in the Idols Road Business Park and ended county-run curbside recycling in its Monday, Oct. 10, meeting.
Forsyth County is planning to turn 169 acres off Idols Road near Tanglewood Park into a business park. Beaufurn LLC Inc. is offering $399,5000 for the park’s first 14.5 acres. Commissioners voted to accept the offer with an upset bid period that would allow others to bid if they want to.
The county will need to build infrastructure for the park, like a road to access the area. Clemmons has planned to annex the land and will cover the cost of building sewer and water infrastructure for the park. The county expects the project to pay for itself once all the property is sold.
Beaufurn, a global furniture maker located in Advance, is looking to relocate into a larger space. The county already approved a $118,000 incentive package over a five-year period for the company, contingent on it retaining its current 33 positions and adding 15 more. Marshall
The commissioner also voted to change county ordinances to end the curbside recycling franchise for the unincorporated areas of Forsyth County. The service will cease at year’s end. Recycling collection is being deregulated to allow service providers to negotiate service with neighborhood associations. The county would require the recycling collectors to have a permit to make sure the recyclables are being collected and delivered properly.
The vote was 5-2, with County Commissioners Walter Marshall and Everette Witherspoon voting against it. Both of them support mandatory recycling, similar to what the city has.
“Recycling is a major environmental issue as far as trash is concerned,” said Marshall, who believes the end of the curbside county recycling service will lead to more dumping.
The county has had two service providers not renew their contracts. Low participation and a downturn in the commodities market has made it hard for these companies to make money. The hope is the deregulation will let sub-divisions, which contain most of the service’s costumers, negotiate for service with recycling collectors. Those that don’t fall in areas that have negotiated service will have to bring their recyclables to one of the county’s three drop-off recycling centers themselves.
