Tyrrell County Planning Board reports activities

Published 10:24 pm Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Sheryl Reynolds, Tyrrell County Planning Board clerk, submitted an activities report to the county commissioners Aug. 15.

The planning board reviewed eight subdivision plats in the year that ended June 30, creating eight new lots and bringing in fees of $1,600.

Planning board leaders signed two plats of land divisions they found to be exempt from Subdivision Ordinance regulations.

William and Stacy White came before the planning board in April with the plat of a five-lot subdivision near Lake Phelps. Each lot was slightly more than 20,000 square feet, but each contained a roadway easement whose footage must be subtracted when determining minimum lot size.

The board also finalized its 2017-18 budget request in April, asking for the same appropriation as in 2016-17.

White returned in May with a revised plat showing the same tract divided into three lots. The board granted White’s request

for a roadway easement width variance, allowing him to set aside 40 feet rather than 45 feet required by the Subdivision Ordinance, the board reasoning that White has no control over existing 40-foot easements on properties owned by others

to the north and south of his tract. The board then approved the subdivision plat.

Also in May, Johnny Spencer, utilities director, and building inspector Joie Spencer discussed with the board the differences in outreach of the Sewer Use Ordinance and the Subdivision Ordinance with regard to mandatory sewer hookup for new construction. (The sewer ordinance requires all buildings with in 200 feet while the subdivision regulations state 500 feet from the nearest point in the subdivision.)

The board recommended to the commissioners that the sewer ordinance limit be raised to 500 feet. (The commissioners

amended the ordinance to the 500-foot level on Aug. 15.)

Chairman Leroy Spivey came before the planning board on behalf of the county commissioners in June and thanked Ray McClees for his service to the planning board.