ROCKINGHAM — The Richmond County Board of Commissioners approved an ordinance authorizing the demolition and removal of a house at 692 Cartledge Creek Road during its August meeting.
Planning Director Tracy Parris presented commissioners with photos showing the condition of the residence, including openings in the roof.
“The stairs that you see are so rickety that I’m unable to even take a picture of the inside of the house….,” Parris said. “We’ve gone through the motions on this issue, the complaint, the finding of facts, and now we’re at the point where I’d like to tear it down.”
According to the ordinance, an administrative hearing was held April 1, and the owner of the building was “given reasonable opportunity to bring the dwelling up to the standards of the County Code or demolish and remove the structure pursuant.”
In other business, commissioners approved agreements with LKC Engineering for water system projects associated with the Energy Way Industrial Complex and Amazon project.
One project includes a new 20-inch water line that will run about 4 miles to the Amazon Web Services site. The second includes a 1 million-gallon storage tank across from the Richmond County Airport and two booster pump stations — one in Cordova and another on Airport Road.
Public Works Director Jerry Austin said the county expects to put the projects out for bid between late September and early October.
The board also approved recommendations from the city of Rockingham to reappoint Jamie Lambeth and Alan Anderson to extraterritorial jurisdiction seats on the city’s Planning and Zoning Board.
Commissioners also approved the sale of a county-owned building to Backpack Pals for $1, following previous discussion during a June special meeting.
County Manager Bryan Land explained that the organization wants to make improvements to the building but has been unable to pursue certain grant funding because the county owns the facility.
“They’re trying to get some new metal skin, new metal roof and just really spruce the building up,” Land said.
Land said the county plans to “hammer” out a deed with Backpack Pals, allowing the organization to pursue grant funding to “really rehab the building.” He said that if the organization were to cease operations, the building would be offered back to the county for $1.
Commissioners expressed support for the organization and its work in Richmond County.
“It’s a well-established program that the community has supported for quite a long time,” Commissioner Justin Dawkins said.
“They do wonderful work in feeding our kids, making sure they’re fed in the summer and over the weekends, so it is extremely worthwhile for all the children in Richmond County,” Commissioner Rick Watkins said.
Commissioner Jason Gainey said Backpack Pals feeds about 500 Richmond County children each week and serves every school in the county.