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Pitt County officials will work to educate residents about securing trash they take to waste sites as part of an effort to reduce roadside and other litter.
A visitor at the county waste collection on County Home Road prepares to dump his glass into a recycling bin.
Pitt County officials will work to educate residents about securing trash they take to waste sites as part of an effort to reduce roadside and other litter.
A visitor at the county waste collection on County Home Road prepares to dump his glass into a recycling bin.
The Pitt County Board of Commissioners has approved a five-step plan to reduce littering and illegal dumping in unincorporated areas of the county.
The proposals presented by Pitt County Solid Waste and Recycling Director John Demary at the commissioners’ meeting on Monday focused on an education campaign, recruiting volunteers for litter pickup and monitoring waste haulers to ensure their loads of trash are covered and properly secured.
Monitoring of known illegal dumping sites will continue, Demary said, and planning department staff will work with his office to create a map of places where dumping is reported.
Discussions earlier this year about littering are already having an effect, Demary said.
“I have definitely seen an increase in people covering their loads coming into our facility,” Demary said.
Commissioner Ann Floyd Huggins said she also saw a trash hauler recently stop along the roadway, before entering the county Transfer Station off Allen Road.
“We do have a number of people who do that,” Demary said.
Earlier this year Demary’s office led a 12-person board consisting of representatives from the county, City of Greenville, Town of Ayden, N.C. Department of Transportation and five private waste haulers to find ways to solve the county’s littering problem.
The education campaign will roll out in January 2023.
“We want to do some TV ads and we were informed it’s best to wait until after the elections and we’ll get more publicity,” he said.
Along with sending out news releases to generate media coverage, staff will create digital marketing and update the county website, Demary said. An education program also will be created for elementary school-age children.
This weekend a group of volunteers picked up trash along River Road with Pitt County Sheriff’s Deputy Nick Whaley, the county’s environmental officer, providing safety supervision, Demary said. “From what I hear it turned out pretty good. There were quite a few people out there, so I was told.”
The county also will work with the state transportation department to recruit participants in the state’s spring and fall litter sweep program.
Patrols to investigate illegal dumping and litter issues also will continue.
“When we talk about the issue with the tarps, we haven’t given any tickets out but we sure have talked to a lot of people,” Demary said.
When he’s near the scale house, where waste haulers enter the transfer station, he’ll stop people who have properly secured their tarps to thank them.
“We’ve definitely seen an increase in the way people are covering their loads, coming into our facility. I think we are on the right direction,” he said.
His office has ordered tarps and will do a giveaway on Oct. 1. The tarps will be handed out at solid waste collection and recycling centers.
He also proposed giving $5 gift cards to individuals who properly cover loads of trash and debris.
“I think word will get around,” he said.
The mapping system for illegal dumping sites will allow his department and the sheriff’s office to better monitor the sites.
The commissioners voted 7-1 to postpone a decision on changing a county ordinance governing the location of go-cart raceways.
Commissioner Tom Coulson cast the lone no vote and Commissioners Huggins, Beth Ward, Alex Albright, Mike Fitzpatrick, Christopher Nunnally, Melvin McLawhorn and Mary Perkins-Williams voted to postpone. Commissioner Lauren White was absent from Monday’s meeting.
Assistant County Manager for Planning and Environment James Rhodes said the county currently requires a minimum between a go-cart raceway and “any residentially or office and institutionally-zoned property.”
Sawyer Property Management group sought a change that would reduce the setback from any residentially-zoned property to 200 feet while keeping the minimum setback at 500 feet from any lot upon which an existing residence is located. The county planning board, when approving the recommendation, added language that only electric-powered go-carts be operated at such a location.
“Those tend to be less noisy and appear to be the type of vehicle that is used on these raceways these days,” Rhodes said.
Albright questioned how the rule change would affect property owners who want to build a home in the future. Albright said he didn’t like the possibility of handicapping a property owner.
“It seems like to me we are giving two signals here,” Albright said. “I’m not sure we are hearing a reason for change.”
Rhodes said go-cart raceway owners would have to meet the county’s noise ordinance. Albright wasn’t convinced the current noise ordinance would protect current or future neighbors.
He also questioned how the commissioners could make the decision without knowing how much noise a raceway would generate.
Nunnally said he believed buyers of a home located within 200-foot of a raceway would know the track is there and can make an informed decision about purchasing it.
Coulson said from what he’s seen through his wife’s work in real estate, people often aren’t informed about the location of houses.
Perkins-Williams said she believes electric go-carts produce little noise. She also thought the track would bring recreation to rural residents. She made a motion to change the ordinance but no one seconded it so no vote was taken.
Nunnally said the only go-cart track he is familiar with was at Atlantic Beach Circle. The gas-powered engineers could be heard from some distance.
He suggested bringing the recommendation back to the commissioners in October with examples of the noise produced by electric go-carts. His motion was seconded and passed with a majority vote.
Inflation has more than doubled the estimated cost of a shell building planned for Farmville, staff reported.
Kelly Andrews, director of Pitt County economic development, and Assistant County Manager/County Engineer Tim Corley have been working with MHA Works to design a 50,000-square-foot shell building that would be located on property the county owns in Farmville Corporate Park.
Shell buildings are basic structures that can be quickly modified to meet the needs of industrial clients.
Matt Johnson, an architect with MHA works said the project has been designed and is ready to be submitted for permitting and approval and the bidding process. However, the structure, which was first estimated to cost $4 million, would not cost $8.2 million to build based on estimates he’s received.
“It’s never the news you want to deliver,” Johnson said.
Many of the options for flexibility provide little cost savings but reduce the marketability of the building, he said.
Corley said the county should continue to talk with local contractors to find out when will be the best time to accept bids on the project.
Having it ready to go would allow Andrews to market the facility as a project ready for construction if a business is interested, he said.
The commissioners voted unanimously to approve:
Contact Ginger Livingston at glivingston@reflector.com or 329-9570.
Read this story on reflector.com for a more detailed report of Monday's meeting.
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