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CITY OF NEW BERN BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING APRIL 10, 2018 – 6:00 P.M. CITY HALL COURTROOM 300 POLLOCK STREET   (Note: Links expire when the next agenda is posted) 1. Meeting opened by Mayor Dana E. Outlaw.  Prayer Coordinated by Alderman Kinsey.  Pledge of Allegiance. 2. Roll Call. 3. Request and Petition of Citizens. This section of the Agenda is titled Requests and Petitions of Citizens.  This is an opportunity for public comment, and we thank you for coming to the Board of Aldermen meeting tonight to share your views.  We value all citizen input. Speaker comments are limited to a maximum of 4 minutes duringRead More →

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Updated 3/25/2018 at 10:23 a.m. Now that the Craven Terrace low-income housing project has been outsourced, downsized, and renovated, the New Bern Housing Authority is turning its sights on what to do about Trent Court. In a memo to the Housing Authority Board of Commissioners (members listed here), Housing Authority Executive Director Martin Blaney said the agency is going to apply for a 9 percent low-income housing tax credit from the N.C, Housing Finance Agency, but first must “secure site control of an eligible and competitive location.” The “competitive location” would be used to build new low-income housing to add to, and in some casesRead More →

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(Note: Links for documentation expire when the next agenda is posted) CITY OF NEW BERN BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING MARCH 27, 2018 – 6:00 P.M. CITY HALL COURTROOM 300 POLLOCK STREET 1. Meeting opened by Mayor Dana E. Outlaw.  Prayer Coordinated by Alderman Aster.  Pledge of Allegiance. 2. Roll Call. Consent Agenda. 3. Consider Adopting a Resolution to Close Specific Streets on April 21, 2018 for United Worship Center’s Community Day. (Ward 1) Walter Linsey, an elder with United Worship Center, has requested the 800 block of West Street and 900 block of Main Street be closed to vehicular traffic from 12 noon until 4 p.m.Read More →

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Preliminary plans have been released for the proposed 850-acre Martin Marietta Park that depict something the size and scope of which would make it one of the most significant municipal parks in the state. Aldermen, the mayor, staff and advisers will meet upstairs at City Hall at 1 p.m. Monday to discuss the park and a proposed city redevelopment area and commission. (Link to agenda; note that the link has a limited shelf life.) As depicted in maps, Martin Marietta Park would include a large amphitheater, swimming area, boating area, hiking trails and numerous other features. The plan does not indicate how the city wouldRead More →

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Fresh from her first National League of Cities conference in Washington D.C., Alderman Jameesha Harris returned  to New Bern on Tuesday eager to spread the conference’s theme, “Rebuild with Us.” During her return trip from D.C., her head filled with all sorts of dynamic, innovative things that she was eager to see happen here, Harris excitedly texted her fellow aldermen and city staff to look into a program called Opportunity Zones. And then she got shut down. (Anyone who has ever attended a professional conference, only to have everything you’ve learned dismissed by the gatekeepers in the home office, raise your hand.) According to Goman+York,Read More →

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CITY OF NEW BERN BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING MARCH 13, 2018 – 6:00 P.M. CITY HALL COURTROOM 300 POLLOCK STREET   1.  Meeting opened by Mayor Dana E. Outlaw.  Prayer Coordinated by Alderman Aster.  Pledge of Allegiance. 2.  Roll Call. 3.  Request and Petition of Citizens. This section of the Agenda is titled Requests and Petitions of Citizens.  This is an opportunity for public comment, and we thank you for coming to the Board of Aldermen meeting tonight to share your views.  We value all citizen input. Speaker comments are limited to a maximum of 4 minutes during the public comment period.  At the conclusion of 4 minutes,Read More →

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Before and after photos show impacts on Trent Road from the New Bern Marketplace shopping center construction. The photo on the left was taken several years ago. The photo on the right was taken on Wednesday. City officials are revising design standards for the Trent Road Corridor “to accurately reflect the development pattern” that has emerged on that stretch of city street. Changes were approved by the Planning and Zoning Board at its meeting on Tuesday and will come before the Board of Aldermen for final approval. Changes include: Removing a requirement that buildings maintain a front yard setback of 35-50 feet from the streetRead More →

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The late Steve Jobs is often touted as one of the great innovators of the age, but his real genius was in taking ideas from others, tweaking them, and selling them. Jobs didn’t invent the computer mouse, smart phone or the MP3 player, for example; others came up with those ideas, but his tweaks changed everything. Taking cues from Steve Jobs, the City of New Bern has gone into he business of taking others ideas, as well. For example, take the Farmer’s Market. For $1 per year, the Farmers Market was leasing city-owned land at South Front and Hancock streets coveted by developers. Everyone wasRead More →

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For companion story, click here City Market is a triangular piece of property, with the Ghent neighborhood on one side, a mixed residential-commercial street on one side, and Country Club Road/First Street on the remaining side. City Hall is giving that section of the city a lot of love and attention recently. Lawson Creek Park is right there and has benefited from a lot of improvements: a reconfigured and beautified entrance, a ball field, and more. The city moved its Parks and Recreation offices to a building off Country Club Road, and is seeking funding to improve boat access there. And it has worked withRead More →

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Photo: The city has a lot of properties for sale: 92 are listed on the city’s website. Of those, more than 70 are located in the Greater Duffyfield area. (City of New Bern map)   It’s an unrelenting list of failed dreams: Greater Duffyfield homes and buildings in disrepair, ordered torn down by the city and later sold off at dimes on the dollar. It’s a tragedy on a personal scale for the families who are losing their properties, but in the broader picture, it’s costing taxpayers money — a lot of it. Just this week, buildings facing city-ordered demolition were put to votes byRead More →