Plans for Town Hall and library expansions also presented at pre-agenda meeting
BY DEBBIE PAGE
During its agenda briefing on Monday afternoon, the Troutman Town Council voted on several issues, including a Main Street speed charge, Town Hall expansion plans, a fire department utility billing issue, and authorization of a response letter regarding a financial performance indicator of concern to the state treasurer.
Members also heard a presentation from Iredell County Project Manager David Saleeby and Iredell County Library Director Juli Moore about fairgrounds improvements and a much-needed Troutman library expansion.
MAIN STREET SPEED LIMIT
Based on discussions of pedestrian and driver safety at council meetings and the recent strategic planning retreat, staff prepared a resolution for council’s consideration to request that NCDOT lower the speed limit on Main Street (Hwy 21/115) from Old Mountain Road to Cedar Lane from 35 to 25 mph.
Town Manager Justin Longino said the resolution noted that Main Street carries between 18,000 and 19,000 vehicles per day between Old Mountain Road and Cedar Lane, and pedestrian crossings along Main Street are unsafe due to traffic volume and lack of signalized crossings.
The council unanimously approved the resolution, which will be sent to NCDOT for consideration.
TOWN HALL EXPANSION
Longino said council and staff have explored various options for providing additional space for town employees who are currently spread across different buildings and, in multiple cases, sharing cramped office with other employees.
Those options have ranged from expanding Town Hall, building a new facility, or renovating an existing building (the Keystone or Liat properties).
Longino said that after a thorough analysis of these options, staff recommends doing a deeper dive on plans from Fuller Architecture to ensure that the needs of the employees and community will be adequately addressed with the proposed layout of a Town Hall expansion.
This would include discussing next steps with Fuller, including timelines and additional work to move toward this expansion.
The staff would also determine the appropriate footprint of the Keystone building to parcel out the building with appropriate buffer with the ESC Park and then review options to list the Keystone site for sale.
This division will secure the park’s future and add an estimated 35 acres from the former Keystone property for future town use.
Longino believes the town can sell the building and 15 surrounding acres for more than the town paid for the property and then use the proceeds to help fund the expansion.
The Liat building near the fairgrounds, purchased by the town last year, is also up for sale.
FIRE DEPARTMENT UTILITY BILLING
Longino told the council that Troutman Fire and Rescue historically has not been charged for utilities (water & sewer), a decades-long decision by the town not to charge for this usage.
About 12 years ago, council decided to charge TF&R for the minimum usage of 2,000 gallons required by all utility users. In November of 2024, the department began paying a flat fee of $200 for utility usage.
Because of a billing and meter reading error back in June, TF&R began to be charged for all water usage (and subsequently sewer usage) at its facility in downtown Troutman.
Usage at this facility includes the restrooms, kitchen, and other ancillary usage inside the fire station as well as the filling of fire apparatus.
Because all this usage flows through the same meter, TF&R has been accruing charges that include water and sewer usage, even when filling up a fire truck which has no impact on sewer.
Public Works has ordered a meter for the hydrant at TF&R to track the water used by the fire department from a necessary usage and loss perspective. Once this hydrant meter is installed, building usage and the fire apparatus usage will be separate to avoid the sewer charges on apparatus filling from the hydrant.
For the past nine months, the department’s bill has averaged $1,300, including building and apparatus usage, for water and sewer. TF&R asked the council to consider waiving the sewer charges (about $650 per month).
Council then needed to determine how the town bill TF&R for future water usage. Longino noted that the town has never charged TF&R for filling up a truck on scene at a fire when they pull water through a hydrant.
The council voted unanimously to waive and refund the sewer fees as requested and to bill the department for water at the metered hydrant for fire apparatus at the bulk water rate of 2 cents per gallon.
AUDIT LETTER
Gina Merrell presented the council with a letter to the state treasurer regarding a performance indicator of concern for its approval and members’ signatures.
Merrell explained that when the 2024-2025 town audit was performed, auditors identified a Financial Performance Indicator of Concern (FPIC) regarding a budget violation. The Water and Sewer administration department overspent by $35,262 due to incorporating pension-related reconciliation amounts into the current year’s actual expenses.
The pension-related expenses that occurred in Water and Sewer Administration were the result of audit adjustments to record additional expenditures.
To prevent audit adjustments in the future, the unit will carefully review the budget-to-actual reports for all units bi-monthly beginning in May of each year, estimate expected year-end adjustments for payables, and have the governing board amend the Budget Ordinance before the fiscal year end to account for these expected costs.
The Finance Department will also be presenting midyear and third quarter financial projections annually to the council in February and May, along with any necessary and corresponding budget amendments, to again ensure that any adjustments are made prior to year end.
The council voted unanimously to approve and sign the audit response letter.
FAIRGROUNDS AND LIBRARY EXPANSION PROJECTS
Fairgrounds
David Saleeby, Iredell County project manager, presented the Iredell County Fairground Project to the council. The initial fairground rehabilitation project includes the building of an approximately $5 million farmer’s market building and about 770 paved parking places, at a cost of around $4.5 million, with lighting and exhibit hookups.
These initial stages of the fairgrounds project are being funded with approximately $10 million in state grant monies, some of which are nearing their deadlines.
Saleeby said bids for the projects are opening on March 17, with CP&L architects drawing the plans.
The bids should be presented to Iredell County commissioners in mid-April with construction beginning on April 27 on the first phase to grade and gravel the parking area and to install utility infrastructure. The paved lot is expected to be completed by late fall of this year.
Work on the 9,568 square foot farmer’s market facility is expected to begin in July 2027, with completion in time for the September opening of the fair. This building will house the commercial kitchen and concessions, restrooms, a conference room, fairground office, and 29 stalls accommodating two farmers each in the market area.
Arrangements have been made for construction to work around the Independence Day Parade, fireworks displays, horse shows, and the Iredell County Fair so these events will not be disrupted.
Iredell County Parks and Recreation now operates the fairgrounds.
J. Hoyt Hayes Memorial Troutman Library
Saleeby and Iredell County Library Director Juli Moore also presented an expansion plan for the J. Hoyt Hayes Memorial Troutman library to the council. The 7,000 square foot library, completed in 2008, was funded by community members on a 3-acre town-owned lot.
The town owns the facility, but the county funds library staffing and programming and helps maintain the building.
In 2022, plans were drawn for a 3,200-square-foot addition at an estimated cost of $300-$325 per square foot, or approximately $930,000, to fund the project.
Saleeby said the design will allow the addition to be shut off from the main library so that community groups could rent it for meetings or programs. It will have its own restrooms, storage, and a small counter and sink for library programming, which will be the addition’s main use, according to Moore.
The plan also adds an additional 22 to 26 parking spaces to the 20 that now exist.
Moore added that the library’s usage has skyrocketed in the last few years, along with Troutman’s population growth.
Since 2022, circulation of physical items (not including digital loans) has increased nearly 21 percent, with the number of patrons attending library programs increasing 30 percent. The number of programs offered has increased 176 percent, with program attendance overall and offsite increasing nearly 316 percent.
Moore said that the Troutman Friends of the Library group has saved ABC monies saved over the past nine years, putting it into a fund for future expansion that now totals around $50,000. This pot of money should be enough to fund an architect to draw detailed plans for the project in a 10 to 15 month design period.
Saleeby estimates that the expansion construction would take 12 to 14 months, if council decides to move forward with the project.
At council’s request, Moore said that she would begin researching possible grant funding for the expansion project since the county has indicated that it will contribute no funding, only continuing staffing and maintenance assistance just as it does with the Harmony library branch.
HOME RUN MARKET REZONING REQUEST
At the February Planning and Zoning meeting, 50 community members packed the Troutman Town Hall to express their concerns about a proposed Home Run Market on a 4.5 acre tract at the corner of Perth and State Park Roads in a residential area.
On Thursday night, the fate of the project rests in the hands of the Town Council, and area residents are promising an even bigger turnout to oppose the project.
After listening to 90 minutes of developer and community feedback and expressing their own strong misgivings about the project, the Planning and Zoning Board unanimously voted to deny its recommendation to rezone the site.
Representatives from J.T. Alexander and Sons are asking the council for permission to annex and rezone the two adjoining parcels from suburban residential to a conditional local commercial zoning district (for less intense commercial and service uses and located near main road intersections) to build a Home Run Market
The proposed project consists of an approximately 5,000-square-foot convenience store with 12 gas pumps. A proposed carwash was removed after objections at an October community meeting for the project, and the proposed building architecture was also modified to better align with the surrounding residential character.
In the 2018 Troutman Strategic Plan, the Future Land Use Map designates the site as “Medium Density Residential.” In 2022, the map was updated to define the site as a “Special Lake Use,” defined as areas in the vicinity of Lake Norman that promote low-density development (2-3 single-family detached houses per acre).
Though Troutman is in a development moratorium because of a wastewater capacity shortage, the project is not subject to the 30-month moratorium because the project’s application was submitted prior to its passage.
Neighbors expressed concerns about increased traffic, limited visibility at curves, impaired sight lines exiting left on State Park Road from the property, difficulty exiting driveways with traffic back ups, and disturbance from noise and lighting, the awkward intersection turn, pollution from spilled gas, runoff, possible leaking of underground tanks that could contaminate groundwater, insufficient buffers, and the detrimental effect on nearby home values.
Speakers also noted that the project is not consistent with surrounding residential homes or the 2035 Land Use Plan, on which residents depended when they purchased their homes in what was designated as a purely residential area.
UPCOMING THURSDAY NIGHT
On Thursday night, the council will also consider:
♦ Adopting an ordinance to amend the Town of Troutman Fiscal Year 2025/2026 Budget Ordinance after receiving the Fiscal Year 2026 Midyear Projections.
♦ Approving an easement agreement between the Town of Troutman and Prestige Land & Site Works.
♦ Adopting a resolution ratifying and approving the purchase of real property, ratifying all current and former leases for the town’s real property, and delegating authority to the Town Manager to execute lease agreements for under one year.
♦ Approving a contribution agreement between BBC Beam, LLC, BBC Norman Creek, LLC (formally BBC Rocky Creek, LLC), and the Town of Troutman for $1.5 million in lieu of the developer completing improvements recommended by the traffic impact analysis. The town will hold the funds until dispersal to the NCDOT when it begins work on a series of planned road improvements in the area.
♦ A request from Paul Combs to annex and rezone .61 acres located at 414 Old Mountain Road to get water service.