Supervisors approve Six Year Road Plan; re-zoning for two businesses; to temporarily pay tax payment convenience fees
The Pulaski County Board of Supervisors on Monday night approved the county’s new Six Year Road Improvement Plan, approved re-zoning for two local businesses and agreed to temporarily pay the convenience fees of taxpayers who use credit / debit cards to pay their tax bills over the phone or online.
Monday’s meeting was held in the County Administration Building following “social distancing” rules with chairs for the audience spaced far apart.
Following a public hearing on the Six Year Road Plan in which no citizens spoke, the board voted to establish seven road projects on the plan.
Topping the list is Boyd Road in the Delton section of Draper. Work to hard surface the unpaved portion of Boyd will begin this spring, according to VDOT Resident Engineer David Clarke.
The project is estimated to cost $142,656 of the $327,447 available to the county this year for road construction.
No. 2 on the list is an access management project on Route 114 about a half-mile west of New River Bridge where a turn lane will be constructed. That project is estimated to cost a total of $150,000 with $84,791 coming from this year’s budget.
The rest of this year’s budget allocation – $100,000 – will be used to pay the balance of the already completed Church Hill Lane project.
No. 3 on the list is a curve widening project in Hiwassee on Route 693 at Hoover Color.
Nos. 4 -7 on the lists are all projects to hard surface the unpaved portions of Burleigh Horton Road, Davis Hollow Road, Sayers Road and High Road.
Projects on the Six Year Road Plan are begun as funding becomes available. The Board of Supervisors updates the plan on an annual basis with input from VDOT and citizens.
Also Monday night the supervisors approved re-zoning for two businesses – PACC Rescue and Pycone Creamery. No citizens spoke in favor or in opposition to the requests.
PACC Rescue – or Pulaski Animal Care and Control – was formed three years ago by a small group of people who saw a need to help homeless animals in the community.
They will establish a new facility at 3430 Lee Highway in Draper on the south side of Draper Mountain in the former location of John’s Small Engine Repair.
Kenneth Dolinger began Pycone Creamery in 2017 and the creamery’s ice cream is currently made in Blacksburg. The new location will be at 7195 Lee Highway off Route 11 in Fairlawn at the Hickman Cemetery Road intersection.
Ice cream will be made in small batches and sold onsite once the building is renovated and the site developed.
The supervisors will hold a public hearing at their April meeting to consider an ordinance or an amendment to an ordinance to re-set the rate for penalties to $0 and interest to 0% for three-months on real estate taxes due on June 5, 2020, in response to COVID-19.
Also on Monday night, the supervisors agreed – again in response to COVID-19 – to pay the convenience fees for taxpayers paying tax bills with credit / debit cards over the phone or online through June 30 as an incentive for them not coming to the treasurer’s office to pay.
Pulaski County Treasurer Melinda Worrell said any time a taxpayer comes into the office to pay a bill using a credit / debit card no fee is charged, but it is charged on phone or online payments.
Worrell estimated the cost to the county at around $3,500.
Also Monday, Bill Thompson was introduced as the county’s new ACCE program coordinator.
In closing Monday’s meeting, Chairman Joe Guthrie remembered Ira “Pete” Crawford, a former member of the Board of Supervisors, who passed away last week.
Also, Guthrie asked that, in this time of crisis, for everyone to remain calm, remember kindness toward others and checking on neighbors, practice patience during these stressful conditions, keep perspective – focusing on doing the important things now – and to consider a time of reflection as called for in the Day of Prayer declaration.
By MIKE WILLIAMS, The Patriot