During its July 9 meeting, Washington’s City Council approved accepting a $22,189 grant for a strategic/space need assessment for the George H. & Laura E. Brown Public Library.

The grant was awarded June 7. Funding for Library Services and Technology Act grants comes from the federal government. The State Library of North Carolina decides with North Carolina libraries receive grants.

The 2018-2019 LSTA grants total over $2.6 million, and include 53 awards for local library projects that advance excellence and promote equity by strengthening capacity, expanding access and community engagement in North Carolina’s libraries.

Brown Library will hire consultants to facilitate a strategic planning process that will result in a community needs assessment, a five-year strategic program/service plan and space-needs assessment for the library. This planning project will assess the library’s current services, physical space and strategically identify priorities for increasing alignment between what the library offers and what current and future library users need. This will allow the library to better serve the community and better explain its expansion plans.

Also at the July 9 meeting, the council removed a scheduled second reading on a proposal to amend the city’s zoning regulations to allow mining operations in the residential/agricultural-20 zones with a special-use permit from its agenda.

At its June 11 meeting, the council voted 3-2 on a motion to allow mining operations in the RA-20 zones, but that 3-2 vote was not enough for the motion to pass. For that motion to have passed, two thirds of the council members would have needed to vote for it on the first reading of the proposed amendment. If the council votes on the request again, a simple majority vote in the affirmative would allow the motion to pass.

At the June 11 meeting, Council members Virginia Finnerty, Richard Brooks and Roland Wyman voted in the affirmative during the council’s meeting Monday. Council members Doug Mercer and William Pitt voted in the negative. The Planning Board had recommended the council not amend the zoning regulations.

During its March meeting, the board decided it wanted to discuss the request with B.E. Singleton & Sons and its consultant, Harry Bailey, before making a recommendation to the council, which as final say on amending the zoning ordinances. B.E. Singleton & Sons wants to mine sand on a parcel of land on Cherry Lane Road, which is located within the city’s extra-territorial jurisdiction. Roper-based Sly Fox Farm LLC owns the land, which is on the west side of Cherry Lane Road. Sly Fox Farm has no objection to the land being mined for sand.