Commissioners present:
Chairman Ted Godwin, Tony Braswell, Jeff Carver, Patrick Harris (a.m.),
Butch Lawter, Chad Stewart, and Larry Wood
Absent: Patrick Harris (p.m.)

DEVELOPMENT-RULE CHANGES ADOPTED BY SPLIT VOTE

By a vote of 6-2, the board adopted changes in the county's Land Development Code recommended by the Planning Department. The most significant change establishes a minimum lot size of 30,000 square feet in rural residential subdivisions, effective September 1.

Presently, the code allows a density of 1.5 dwellings per acre for subdivisions served by a public water supply (rather than individual wells). While the new rule works out to 1.45 units per acre, Planning Director Braston Newton said actual lot sizes in subdivisions up to now have averaged 20,000-25,000 square feet.

Commissioners' Chairman Godwin pressed for minimum lots of 40,000 square feet for all new subdivisions, and he was joined in voting against the code changes by Mr. Wood. Commissioners Braswell, Carver, Lawter, and Stewart voted yea (Mr. Harris was absent from Monday evening's session.)

During a public hearing before the vote, developer James Lipscomb of Clayton voiced concerns that the new rule for larger lot sizes would result in home builders "gobbling up more land" to house the steady stream of new residents coming to Johnston County. "The ones you're going to hurt are the farmers," Mr. Lipscomb declared, adding that "there needs to be more conversations about this" before development rules are changed.

Before casting his vote in favor of the recommended rule changes, Commissioner Stewart asked rhetorically: "Are we really slowing growth? Or just spreading growth?"


TAX COLLECTIONS "LOOKING GOOD" SO FAR

Commissioners received two encouraging reports Monday morning regarding county tax collections amid the coronavirus pandemic. "It's looking good," said Finance Director Chad McLamb, who noted that sales-tax collections so far are "coming in above what we anticipated." Meanwhile, Tax Administrator Jocelyn Andrews said she's "surprised that the (2019-20 fiscal) year ended as well as it did," with 99.43% of property taxes collected as of June 30. Even so, that's a slight drop from recent collection rates, which have remained above 99.8% the past five years. Going forward, she said her office is prepared to work with taxpayers who may struggle to pay assessments due by early next January. "We do payment plans" and "other things" to help folks get through tough times, she emphasized.

LIBRARY'S BUDGET CUTS PRODUCE LAYOFFS

The board approved an amended budget for the Public Library of Johnston County and Smithfield that reduces expenditures by more than $165,000 as a result of lesser contributions than had been anticipated from supporting governments, especially the Town of Smithfield. Most of the reductions involve personnel costs. Jeff Jennings, chairman of the library's Board of Trustees, confirmed that two full-time and two part-time positions have been eliminated but added that three of the four persons have already accepted other positions within the county. He added that "an efficient and new system" for cataloguing and processing will be in place later this month and indicated it was a factor in the job cuts.