THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 27, 1994 TAG: 9409270319
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
City Council members agreed Monday to push for two roadways linking the city with a proposed Route 17 bypass to be built west of town.
The resolution came at a special session called to discuss the issue in time for a Department of Transportation public hearing on the bypass scheduled for tonight.
``We haven't even considered having a resolution of which way to go,'' said Councilman Lloyd Griffin, one of four members who called for Monday's meeting. ``This one highway has a lot to do with the growth and expansion of Elizabeth City.''
The purpose of tonight's hearing is to gather public comment on which of four possible bypass routes residents and officials prefer. Council members agreed, as they had when the project was proposed a few years ago, to ask that the bypass be as close to the city as economically feasible.
More important, members said, was to fight for easy road access from the bypass into the city. The council calls for two new corridors, joining Routes 158 and 17 to the north and 34 and 17 to the south.
``The connectors are vital to the city,'' said Mayor H. Rick Gardner, who will represent the city at tonight's hearing. ``When you're going to take so much out of traffic, you're entitled to some easy access.''
Councilman David Bosomworth said he agreed with the city's position but wasn't confident that council will get its way.
``We may ask for two feeder roads,'' Bosomworth said, ``but we may only end up with one.''
The public hearing is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Pasquotank County Courthouse. Construction on the $40 million project would not begin until 1997.
In other action, the council decided to find out what it would cost to add to a planned sewer plant in 10 years if the population grows more than expected. The plant is part of the city's multiyear, $21 million water-sewer improvement project.
The meeting also included the council's last executive session before a new state open meetings law goes into effect Oct. 1. The law changes the term for non-public meetings to ``closed session'' and cuts in half the number of topics that can be discussed privately by a public body.
Council members called Monday's meeting and executive session after City Attorney John Hall briefed them on the new law at the regular Sept. 19 work session. by CNB