Meeting Notes: New housing and Pamlico County schools update

We added basic notes about county government meetings to our coverage. If you have additional story ideas, please send them to our reporter-in-residence, Eleazar “El” Yisrael at (252) 258-9434 or [email protected]

The Pamlico County Board of Commissioners held a meeting Feb. 3, 2025. It was a busy one. About 50 people attended, spilling into the hallway. The next regular meeting of the Pamlico County Board of Commissioners will be Monday, February 17 at 7 p.m. at the Pamlico County Courthouse Annex.

Grantsboro Apartments Project

• Beth Bucksot gave a presentation about the Grantsboro Apartments Project. There was also a  presentation by Bobby Funk with Mills Construction and John Nash, the owner of Grantsboro site/acreage.

  • Pamlico County isn’t spending any money on this project. Mills construction was awarded the grant in 2023. County signed a developer agreement with Mills in August of 2023 in the event that Mills was awarded the grant. North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) formally awarded $7 million to Mills in 2023.

  • It will be called Pamlico Grove Apartments, located in Grantsboro.

  • Contract is with North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) and funded through the third phase of Affordable Housing Development Fund (AHDF) in 2023.

    • NCORR awarded $7 million to Mills Construction for this project

    • County applied for the grant due to Mills' request. AHDF is intended for areas affected by hurricanes.

  • Apartments are for low to moderate income residents.

    • 60% Area Median Income

    • Target Income is $25k-$51k

    • Rent range from $664 - $975

  • They will be built by Mills Construction Company.

    • Privately owned and managed by the Mills’ Construction Company. Not public housing.

    • Property taxes estimated to be collected from apartments are $30k a year.

  • 48-unit workforce housing development on 6 acres in Grantsboro near Walmart.

    • Originally 56 units, but had to shrink due to the rise in cost of building since project approval in 2023.

    • 8 one-Bedroom units, 24 two-Bedroom units, and 16 three-Bedroom units

  • The building of apartments has already been approved, but county commissioners have to formally accept the grant from NCORR in order to continue.

    • In 2023, Mills Construction and another company requested Pamlico to apply for the grant, which the county did on July 16, 2023. The grant required the county submit an application.

      • County originally voted 4-3 on this effort.

    • Apartments were intended to be built last year, but was held up in the state budget and also Hurricane Helene kept NCORR busy.

    • Due to the county’s role in submitting the application for NCORR’s funding, the county will pass along numerous reports provided by Mills Construction to the NC Housing Finance Agency throughout the building process. This is common when grants are awarded to projects.

    • They will vote to accept the grant,  possibly next meeting.

Pamlico County Schools 

• Pamlico County Schools Quarterly Update by Pamlico County Schools Superintendent Dr. Jeremy Johnson.

  • Discussed Construction of School:

    • Notice to proceed on Oct. 18 notice and Nov. 7 to begin construction.

    • Took down the old baseball field and worked on the pad where the actual school building will be.

    • The foundation is 50% complete.

    • Next phase of construction is geothermal wells and plumbing in the coming weeks.

    • A new baseball field is being built. They hope to play on it mid-march.

  • End-of-course exams results were reported (favorable).

  • Student Career and Technical Education (CTE) credential attainment – 63% of eligible students earned credential attainment (ServSafe with culinary arts, first aid, safe handling of animals for animal science course, and Adobe Academy).

  • WorkKeys is a NC high school program that tests for job skills. In Pamlico, 37 students tested in fall, and 68% scored silver or higher.

  • State legislature passed a law last year going into effect this year that will require 8th graders to have a career development plan.

  • Pup round-up will happen for Pamlico parents to register their kids for Pre-k.

Other items

• Appointed new County Manager Mark Brewington with a yearly salary of $120,000 with $7,000 in travel.

• Approved Budget Amendments with corrections being a typo in the agenda; “The water Department” is supposed to be listed instead of the “Board of Elections.”

• Approved Board Releases,  taxes that were charged in error. In this case, it involved Burton Farm Development.

• Approved Excise Tax Refund, which is a reimbursement of excise taxes that were previously paid but are eligible for a refund due to specific circumstances.

  • Recorded the wrong amount of sale, higher amount than what it was sold for. The register of Deeds requested money to be refunded.

• Approved Public Notice of the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) Application Notification, meaning that the county will notify citizens that they can apply to get funded for damages by Hurricane Helen.

  • The HMGP is a FEMA-funded program designed to reduce or eliminate future damages and loss following a disaster and is federally funded but managed by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety's Division of Emergency Management.

• Tabled a request to discuss and approve Board of Commissioners Committee & Board Appointments.

  • Intended to be brought up “later” due to corrections and additions being made.

• Approved resolution for down-zoning. The NC General Assembly passed prohibition on down-zoning. County Attorney David B. Baxter, Jr., asserted that the original bill resulted in zoning being harder for counties to enact.

  • State passed a law that “prohibiting local governments from enacting or enforcing any zoning regulations, or zoning map amendments, that would constitute down-zoning without first obtaining the written consent of all property owners whose property would be subject to such an amendment.”

  • Baxter stated that there was a movement in Raleigh to do away with it. He requested the county to go on record saying that they were against it and asking for Pamlico to be exempt from law. County approved.

• Commissioners held two closed sessions to discuss a “personnel issue.” The closed session was intended to protect their privacy. The second closed session was due to attorney-client privilege. This was a time-period in which the board could ask questions regarding the presentations present in the meeting.

  • No motions were passed during closed sessions

Minutes from the Jan. 27, 2025, meeting:

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