Rezoning was chance to ‘engage’ community, Hamlet city manager says

HAMLET — The county’s vote last week to rezone a parcel on Marks Creek Church Road to Heavy Industrial left the Hamlet City Council feeling like their county had again left them in the dark on an important development that would have a direct impact on their community, reopening the wounds from April when the commissioners voted to change the sales tax distribution method without notice to municipalities.

Sometime between Sept. 16 and Sept. 22, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan reached out to Hamlet Mayor Bill Bayless, Dobbins Heights Mayor Antonio Blue and Mayor Pro Tem Tyre Holloway to discuss the International Tie Disposal’s application for an air quality permit, according to Sharon Martin, deputy secretary of Public Affairs for DEQ, which was received on the 16th.

Kathleen C. Lance, special assistant to Secretary Michael S. Regan, sent an email to Bayless, Blue and Holloway on Sept. 22 which referred to a “recent conversation with (DEQ).” Lance attached International Tie Disposal’s permit application along with a map showing the locations of the potential sites.

Bayless told the Daily Journal on Oct. 7, the day before the county was to vote on the rezoning, that he “hasn’t heard a word” from the county about this application, which has not yet been approved or denied, nor about the rezoning, adding that this lack of communication “creates more problems.” He voiced the same sentiment at the council’s monthly meeting this week, with agreement from other members of the council including Abbie Covington and Jesse McQueen.

The rezoning was advertised via public notice prior to the commissioners’ vote, and International Tie Disposal sent an email to Hamlet on June 4 and Aug. 18 (regarding two potential sites, but only the second one on Marks Creek Church Road is still included in the plans) informing them of their intentions to build a site and requesting that they provide Zoning Consistency Determinations, which would verify whether their type of company is allowed on that property, according to documentation provided to the Daily Journal.

The company also requested a Zoning Consistency Determination around the same time. The parcel is not in Hamlet’s extra-territorial jurisdiction but is within their fire district and about a mile from their water source.

Asked if he thinks that the county failed to properly notify the City of Hamlet about the changes being considered, City Manager Matthew Christian said, “I don’t think so.” Still, Christian added, the Zoning Consistency Determinations are common and “very speculative” and are thus not given significant weight. He also said there is a difference between “following the rules to the letter” and the “perceptions” of those things being done.

“There was an opportunity (for the county) to engage with the community broadly,” Christian said of the months and weeks leading up to the Oct. 8 vote on the rezoning.

Richmond County Economic Developer Martie Butler said that there “has not been a history” of the county and municipalities communicating back and forth each time they rezone a property.

“That’s not really a practice,” Butler said.

Butler keeps information about moves businesses are considering making in the county private to avoid the risk of outside interference in the process. She said that, in relation to the discussion at the Hamlet City Council meeting, that the Board of Commissioners knew as much as the City Council about International Tie Disposal’s permit application prior to voting on the rezoning of the parcel, which itself was met with much resistance from the nearby residents, causing CSX to agree to a compromise that allowed a buffer between their properties and any future development.

Martin said that Regan reached out to Hamlet and Dobbins Heights officials “due to previous community and environmental justice concerns raised during permitting activities in this area,” which led DEQ to commit to “being transparent and communicative with community members and local elected officials.” Those previous concerns were an apparent reference to the push back from Asheville-based activist group Dogwood Alliance when Enviva was prepared to construct a site near the recently rezoned parcel.

“In the past, Secretary Regan has met with the mayors, county officials and representatives of the General Assembly and he reached out to (Hamlet and Dobbins Heights) to make them aware when (International Tie Disposal’s) application became public record, based on that existing relationship,” Martin said. “DEQ has met with the company and urged them to offer the same level of transparency to the community that the agency is offering.”

It’s unclear if International Tie Disposal has made any assurances or taken any action to this end.

“As a department, we have been advocating that communities should be involved earlier in the development process, especially in areas with under-served or vulnerable populations,” Martin continued. “The permitting process should not be the first time that residents hear about a new facility.”

Butler said, without going into specifics, that DEQ’s effort to reach out to Hamlet and Dobbins Heights “has caused some issues.”