WS Chronicle

Above: Photos by Tori P. Haynesworth- City Council handles several items during its meeting on Nov. 2.

By Tori P. Haynesworth

For The Chronicle

The Winston-Salem City Council had its meeting on Monday, Nov. 2, at City Hall downtown on 101 N. Main St. The agenda included hearings and voting of zoning property, along with the proposed updated East-Northeast plan.

The first item to be voted on was the zoning of the Praise Assembly Church Ministries, Inc. at 3254 Kernersville Road. It will be changed from a Residential Single (RS) family district to an Institutional and Public District (IP).

The purpose of the IP District is to accommodate public and institutional uses which have a limited land use impact or traffic generation potential upon surrounding uses. The district is intended to accommodate smaller, less intensive public and institutional uses which have concentrated service areas and are located in or near residential areas, or larger, less intensive recreational or institutional facilities in rural areas.

The City-County Planning Board voted unanimously in favor on Oct. 8.

The next item was zoning subject property from Limited Industrial district (LI) to Entertainment: special use limited zoning (E-L) along N. Trade St. Entertainment meaning places that have gatherings such as restaurants and other large venues that don’t exceed more than 250 to 300 people. From previous meetings, the “entertainment” aspect grew out of concerns of citizens living in that area, as well as the local churches.

“They [members of New Bethel Baptist Church] did have some interest in looking at the development taking place, which they were not in opposition from,” said Councilman Derwin Montgomery of the East Ward. “But they didn’t want to see something like a ‘Ziggy’s’ being located directly across the street from the church.”

The planning board also favored this on Oct. 8 and the City Council voted in favor.

Marco Andrade was present to propose the next item, which was the updated East-Northeast plan. This plan, along with the zoning of the areas mentioned, are alongside the objectives to the Legacy 2030 Comprehensive Plan that was accredited by the American Planning Association.

“Obviously we had to look at what was done before and we made a lot of adjustments, things that were not clear, boundaries of some of the areas were not well defined, so we did work out all those details,” said Andrade.

Andrade recognized the citizens who came out to previous meetings, addressing their comments and concerns about the adopted plan.

“My concern though primarily is with housing within the document, and it does not work to sustain the community. We have worked long and hard by increasing the wealth of the community. I really strongly feel this plan does not do that,” said resident Jocelyn Johnson. “Otherwise I think it’s a great plan, it’s almost some parts of a ‘cookie cutter’ for other places, but our housing piece is one of the most important pieces that’s going to help drive economic development.”

Henry McCarthy, as well as Councilwoman Vivian Burke, gave their remarks and concerns about the parks and recreations that are associated with the adopted plan.

“I plan to visit the parks here in Winston-Salem,” said McCarthy. “It is something that I think adds to…that is the vital part to this community.”

“I pass it every day, it can be a pretty park, but it’s not kept well,” said Councilwoman Burke in reference to Harambee Park.

The City Council has voted in favor of the adopted plan. According to Andrade, the plan will be re-written to make the noted changes that were discussed in the meeting and the final draft will be sent to the city secretary within the next two weeks. Once finalized, the draft will be given to a graphic designer for publication.

To learn more about the East-Northeast plan and its updates, visit www.cityofws.org/planning.