BY MILES LAYTON

EDENTON — Edenton Town Councilman Elton Bond said the quiet part out loud about a possible apartment complex being bad for the neighborhood during Tuesday’s council meeting.  

SAGA Construction, with the property owner being Edenton Holdings LLC, seeks approval from Council for a Major Special Use Permit to change the zoning from residential to medium/high density residential for a possible apartment complex at 1311 Paradise Road,  SAGA’s ambitious project – Beechwood Apartments – would consist of 144 rental units, 1-3 bedrooms each, with a small clubhouse and swimming pool, according to a letter (March 3) from SAGA Development.

A public hearing was held during Tuesday’s council meeting to consider whether to grant that Major Special Use Permit, but the matter was tabled for discussion at a later meeting to be scheduled.    

Councilman Bond spoke first, before any other council member, saying apartments are bad news for Edenton – if built first as apartments, they then may later tranform, like other apartments complexes, into government housing — known for “shooting, drugs, fighting and everything.”   

Bond continued, “We’re short of help on the police force now. And all these neighbors that you see back here (at the council meeting) coming from Paradise Road and Morris Circle, they are in disagreement with a loudness (that apartments) may bring neighborhood because they want to keep their neighborhood safe and clean and the way it is. They don’t mind individual homes coming into the neighborhood, but they don’t want to see this type of apartments coming to the neighborhood.” 

Councilman Sambo Dixon added, “I think this plan doesn’t have enough road cuts … and there are all kinds of problems… (the development) needs to be done so well to where it is safe and where it’s in conforming (to town code). If I were the applicant, I would withdraw it (the application) and bring it back to where it conforms to be something that I think  everybody would like.”

In April, the matter was tabled at a public hearing because SAGA asked that the matter be rescheduled to a later date.  There’s about two months remaining to deliberate the matter before the six month deadline tolls, roughly six months from when the paperwork was filed in March.

Mayor Hackney High addressed tabling the matter again — that it’s a good idea to think these through before taking any action.   

“As to Councilman Bond’s comments and also to the neighborhood’s concerns, that’s one of the purposes of the hearing is so that we can hear from the advocate and also hear from the neighbors about what their objections are,” he said. ‘My next comment is that it would appear to me from the comments that Councilman Dixon and Councilman Bond have made, and some comments some other people have made about this agenda item, that it may be appropriate to table this for more study and other things. And I know people don’t like it when we table things, but when there is an issue of this much importance to the community at large and to the neighborhood and where a councilman has so many questions, to me, that’s always a signal that is probably not the best time for us to vote on something if we feel like there’s more things that we need to work out.” 

In other council news, North Carolina Department of Transportation Division 1 Bridge Program Manager Ryan L. Shook gave a presentation about plans to build a bridge spanning Pembroke Creek. See our story.  

NCDOT wants public input about the bridge – especially whether folks favor an 18-month timeline that would detour folks 8 miles away to get where they need to go during bridge construction – OR – a 3-year construction timeframe, possibly less, where the bridge would remain open, but to one lane of traffic only. 

Mayor High said a majority of people favor the one-lane approach to vehicle traffic during construction.  

For folks like me who don’t hear anything until someone mentions the cost – $11 million for the 18-month option and around $12.1 million for the 3-year option.  

Tell NCDOT what you think — Send comments via phone at 984-205-6615, enter project code 11464 – OR – via email at US17-Bridge-PembrokeCreek@publicinput.com or at ​NCDOT’s public input portal​ by June 20, 2025.

The comments and information received will be taken into consideration as work on the project develops.

In other business, Stephen Karl voiced his concerns about the tax increase and fee hikes during a public hearing about the proposed FY Budget for 2025-26.

Property tax rates are poised to increase from 43 cents to 46 cents per $100 of assessed value, electric rates by 9% and water/sewer rates by 22%. Town Manager Corey Gooden’s intro to the proposed budget explains why — see download at the end of this section of the story. And here is our story about rising fees and taxes.  

“Members of the town council, I’m voicing my concerns about proposed raises in the various components of the proposed budget,” Karl said. “I’ve not heard why there needs to be increases. I heard a 9% raise in the electrical and a 22% raise in the water and sewage. Is that a 22% each for the water and the sewage or a combined 22 total.”

Karl continued, “As you all know, we’re currently in an economic tornado with high interest rates, increasing inflation, tariffs that are gonna create price increases on almost everything that we buy. This is not a time for the town to add to the financial strain of its citizens. It is time for financial constraint.”

Gooden explained that water/sewer rates need to increase just to be able to break even – there’s a one percent margin above expenses. Per electric rates, Gooden explained that electric rates are too low, so much so that the state bureaucrats have taken notice. He said the Local Government Commission, which is commissioned by the state to watch over the finances of municipalities and counties in North Carolina – “the auditor has determined that our rates are unsustainable. And we’re in some danger zone with the Local Government Commission on that.”

Karl, when reflecting on December’s electric bill, which was higher than usual because of the longer billing cycle, made this point about electric rates.    

“I understand the costs that need – the basic – you’re paying for what you’re getting. But if there’s any way of minimizing anything else that the town can do, I mean there are things that could be minimized, I’m not saying eliminated, but minimizing the cost — now is not the time to be spending.”

The proposed budget for the Town of Edenton was submitted to the Mayor and Town Council on May 31, 2025. A copy of the proposed budget is available for public inspection at the Edenton Town Hall. 

Or if you want to view the proposed budget at www.townofedenton.com, then go to Departments, click Administration, then Finance buttons.

In other news, since I reported on this when the Sheriff’s Office bought that nice boat, here’s this – that Regulator Marine boat will now be docked at the Town’s waterfront. Council approved the 5-year lease – $9,600 the first year and $1 per year afterward. That means that the Sheriff’s boat will be docked, ready to go – cue up the theme to Baywatch.  

Council approved a job description for a GIS Special Projects Manager. Without going into the weeds or “too much inside baseball” – this position is needed to upgrade important maps and provide data such so that Town officials know what’s what – how old a utility pole is, so as to perhaps know when it’s best to replace it. That’s simplifying the matter, but it would be good to have someone who can gather this data for policymakers.  

More council news will appear in a future article.