Morganton tackles growth, infrastructure in August meeting

At Monday’s monthly meeting, the Morganton City Council gave the OK for the expansion of an existing subdivision in the St. Marys Church Road area, along with new regulations for electric scooters and bikes throughout the city, marking some larger changes.

However, the nearly two-hour session included several other actions from the council, proving to be a packed meeting after a month off for the July Fourth holiday. Here’s a breakdown of the council’s notable actions:

EMERGENCY ELECTRIC GRID ALERT PROGRAM

The council approved an emergency electric grid overload alert plan, which ensures the city is prepared if the regional electric grid becomes stressed and Duke Energy Carolinas issues an emergency alert or related operating instructions, according to Electric Services Director Tom McKee.

“This is not a Morganton-only issue,” McKee said. “When an alert is issued, it is not issued to a single electric system such as the City of Morganton, but rather to all utilities under the specific regional operator, including all municipal, electric co-ops, and Duke Energy, who are within the specific operating transmission area.”

He added that the alerts are used across the United States when electric demand is high, generation is limited, or the transmission system is under stress.

McKee noted that receiving an alert does not automatically mean rolling blackouts. He added that temporary rotating outages would only be used as a last resort measure if the grid emergency reaches that level, or if providers are instructed to reduce firm load.

The plan approved by council establishes communication steps for city leadership, public safety, water and sewer operations, critical facilities, large customers, and the public. McKee noted that the plan allows the city to respond quickly, document actions, and restore normal operations in an orderly way.

THRIVE CHURCH LANDSCAPING APPROVAL

After both an approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission in early July and approval from the city council Monday evening, Thrive Church is set to move forward with an alternative landscaping design for its new location on South Sterling Street, the former location of Pavilion Skating Rink.

Several members of the church attended Monday’s meeting, including Erica Miracle, Thrive’s children’s pastor. She noted that after several attempts to make the building yard comply with the zoning ordinance, church staff determined that grouped landscaping beds in the parking area, rather than a continuous landscaping strip, would better preserve access to the portico drive-through.

“Our goal is to reach out into the community, and we believe that by allowing us to move forward in this project, we can help serve our community better in this location,” Miracle said.

The church sold its property on Pete Brittain Road to another church, but Miracle said Thrive has still been using the space while prepping the new location.

LEASE AGREEMENT WITH VULCAN MATERIALS COMPANY

The city will lease a portion of its 157-acre property at 1000 Vine Arden Road to neighboring Vulcan Materials Company, a local building materials supplier. The property is home to the city’s wastewater treatment plant and skeet range.

City Attorney Keith Rigsbee said Vulcan contacted staff a few months ago about leasing about 2.5 acres for parking needs, material storage, and some buffer area that’s required by their permitting. In exchange for the lease, he noted that the city will receive an annual supply of 50 tons of stone and a 25% discounted rate for the purchase of stone.

The agreement provides the city with continued road access through part of the property, allowing it to reach and maintain its facilities there. The lease runs for five years and automatically renews for an additional five-year term unless either party gives notice of termination.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL MONITORING FOR DEMOLITION

As required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the city council approved a contract for the archaeological monitoring of the demolition of two damaged structures at Catawba Meadows Park.

The two maintenance buildings were damaged during flooding from Hurricane Helene, with one being stripped down to the foundation, and another now deemed structurally unsound. City Manager Sally Sandy noted that FEMA did not originally notify staff that they would need to hire a firm to monitor the demolition in the event of finding any historical artifacts before hiring a demolition contractor, so the project has been delayed and will likely be more expensive due to the time that has passed.

The lowest responsive, responsible bidder was TRC Companies out of Asheville. The council awarded a contract to the company in the amount of $12,500. Sandy said FEMA will reimburse the city for the cost.

ROCKYFORD EXTENSION CONTRACT

The Rockyford Greenway extension, which will be part of the Burke River Trail, is one step closer to becoming a reality after the council awarded a contract to Wildlands Engineering for $28,623, which could be reimbursed with funding from the Great Trail State Program.

The extension will be a gravel-based pedestrian trail that will run from the existing Rockyford area under the Highway 18 bridge and run parallel to the greenway, according to Deputy City Manager Rob Winkler.

The city is working on some of the engineering in-house, but Wildlands will handle jurisdictional determinations, regulatory permitting, permit submittal, and a no-rise floodplain study of the property area.

“Part of this is going to be working with the Army Corps of Engineers, there’s special permitting, and we just felt like we did not have the capacity to do this in-house,” Winkler said.