BY MILES LAYTON
Some big news from Tuesday’s Edenton Town Council meeting – Council member Patrick Sellers announced Boogie on Broad has been postponed Friday to a date to be determined in the fall.
Why? Because there’s a big storm reported ahead – possibly 90 percent chance of precipitation. Nobody wants to dance or listen to music in the rain, and the folks who manage the food trucks, vendors, etc., certainly don’t want to get wet.
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For newcomers, Boogie on Broad is an annual downtown street party that features music, dancing, food, and fun, that is the unofficial kickoff to the spring and summer seasons. More often than not, the music includes some Carolina beach music. Boogie on Broad is a great time to embrace the culture and community.
Sometimes, the weather in these parts “is a thing.” A few years back, there was to be a fancy dinner with locally sourced food served on tables with white tablecloths downtown. Well, rain and heavy winds made that a less-than-optimal event, so postponing Boogie on Broad is a good idea.
On that note, Pilgrimage is Friday and Saturday – with any luck, the sun will come out Saturday for this grand tour of historic homes. Also, John A. Holmes High School’s prom is Saturday – theme is Met Gala.
Speaking of weather, council approved an amendment to the Edenton Historic Standard regarding roofs.
From the amendment: The Edenton Historic Preservation Commission recommends to council an amendment to include in the Edenton Historic District Design Standards, that repairs or replacement to forty percent (40%) or more of a roof requires a Major Certificate of Appropriateness and repair or replacement to less than forty percent of roof requires a Minor Certificate of Appropriateness, and no historical features be modified.
EHPC Chairwoman Lisa Baker explained that a few years back, a big hail storm damaged many things, including roofs in town.
Hail in Eastern NC!? Hail yes! – During that big storm, there was a dime to quarter-sized hail, a lot of it, so much so that one almost got the idea that Moses was in town with plans to conjure up a bunch of plagues, perhaps part the waters of Edenton Bay.
Anyway, after the storm, folks in the historic zone got to repairing their roofs but perhaps didn’t restore them the way those roofs originally appeared.
“That created sort of a historic preservation nightmare because of all the massive insurance claims. We had contractors come from out of state Edenton,” she said. “As you know, I’ve learned over the years, it’s a very unique metal roof community which is not standard in anywhere else in the state. And we’re very unique about that. Unfortunately, people were panicking. They were trying to get the roof done as understandably during the situation. And outside contractors came in; they had no knowledge of the historic roofs that we do have. Lots of mistakes were made, and that statute of limitation I understand has extended expired. But roofs are still going up.”
Why is proper roof restoration important? Because Edenton puts a lot of pride in its historical outlook and appearance, so restoring the roofs to something different from the original does more harm than good — sort of like seeing cellphone on a table in a Victorian period piece drama or a neon blinking Bud Light sign in Williamsburg.
And if you’ll notice our metal roofs in particular, that’s something special to Eastern NC – you won’t find that style of roof anywhere else.
That said, notice the language of the amendment – 40 percent – which means if another hail storm damages your roof by less than 40 percent, you can patch it without jumping through a bunch of extra hoops to get the proper approvals in triplicate.
In other news, council approved a major special use permit application from Edenton Development Company to do a subdivision at Whitemon Lane.
“We’re excited about this project,” said Tom Connolly. “We’re asking for approval to subdivide off the front four and a half acres of our larger property to hopefully kick start development of the front parcel and act as a catalyst for the further commercial development of the remaining 40 acres to the rear.”
A proposal that is in the paperwork stage – getting approval to conduct traffic studies, zoning changes, etc. – calls for a new shopping center with a grocery store, gas station (reportedly Royal Farms), hotel, and a fast-food restaurant.
Before everyone gets the vapors, this is but the first step of a long process to possibly – possibly – to develop the property for commercial use. See the attached agenda at the end of the story if you want to know more about the finer points.
In other business, council approved plans to initiate improved lighting and pavement removal/replacement at the Northeast Regional Airport – a project to cost around $321,000 to be paid from a state grant from the NC Division of Aviation. The existing runaway lighting system was installed more than 20 years ago and needs to be replaced.
Council also approved a salary study that updates/revises an existing pay scale chart. The last time the salary scale was updated was 2020. More on this chapter of the story will appear in a future article – I want to know how much this is going to cost.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, several people asked questions or made comments with suggestions about improving Edenton.
Virginia Tan and Pat Grother talked about changes in traffic patterns on North Broad Street.
Tan said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – it was fine the way before.”
Grother suggested for striping in front of the Post Office when making a left hand turn onto East Church Street – maybe move the stripe back some to better allow large trucks better passage when turning, otherwise folks at the line have to back up to accommodate these 18-wheelers coming from East Church who need to make a wide turn as they turn onto North Broad.
Speaking of North Broad, Council member Elton Bond said he’s received many phone calls from citizens who are not happy with the changes. He’s invited concerned citizens to express their frustrations about the matter.
“They say it is more dangerous now than it was before. They said the council back in the late 60s or early 70s made it a four-lane drive because of traffic – more people driving cars now than they back then. So why would we change it back (single lane) to the way to the way that it is,” he said. “They are unhappy. They’ve seen a lot of accidents that almost happened but didn’t happen. They wonder what is the council is going to do.
Back to public comment — Hal Murray noted how Tom Newbern, a former judge, shouldn’t be a member of the Edenton Historic Preservation Commission because he lives in Hertford County.
Susan Inglis wants the council to consider drafting an ordinance to prevent the release of balloons to prevent littering. Think about it – these plastic balloons, perhaps released at a wedding, fly high in the air, but at some point, they fall to earth – plastic litter.
Last note – when Mayor Hackney High, Council member Sambo Dixon, Town Manager Corey Gooden and others were in Philadelphia on town business, they visited the grave of James Wilson who was a member of the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration of Independence and was one of six original Justices appointed to the first Supreme Court by George Washington. Per a social media post from the Elizabeth Van Moore Foundation, Wilson died of a stroke at age 55 while living with James Iredell in Edenton. He was living in Edenton trying to get away from debt collectors in Philadelphia. He was buried at Hayes. In 1906 a delegation from Pennsylvania exhumed Wilson’s body and took him back to Philadelphia. His grave mentions that he “died in Edenton and in 1906 the Governor and people of Pennsylvania removed his remains to Christ Church, Philadelphia.
Agenda Packet from Tuesday’s meeting