Commissioners
set priorities for new
county offices
Social
Services tops the
list; timing dependent
on finances
Johnston's
County Commissioners
wrapped up their two-day
Strategic Planning retreat
last Thursday afternoon by
agreeing on a list of
priorities for
constructing new buildings
for the Department of
Social Services, a new
home for county
departments to be removed
from the Courthouse, a new
"judicial annex," and
expanded quarters for the
Health Department.
How soon those facilities
are built will depend on
upcoming budget decisions,
especially the
commissioners' setting of
a new property-tax rate
following revaluation, and
the timing for borrowing
the millions of dollars
that will be required to
tackle the list of
projects.
The need for new
facilities is a result of
Johnston's rapid
population growth, which
creates demand for more
personnel and office space
to provide public
services. The latest U.S.
Census estimate puts the
county's population at 249,794
(as of July 2024). That's
an increase of
33,795 since
the 2020 national
decennial census.
Commissioner Bill Stovall
mentioned a price tag of
$115 million for site
preparation and
construction of a new home
for Social Services on
acreage the county has
purchased across US 70
Business East from the
county's new Public Safety
and Detention centers.
"We've planned it to
death," he said. "It's
time we do something."
No. 2 on the list of
priorities is construction
of a "judicial annex" to
house new courtrooms.
Although renovations are
under way within the
existing Courthouse now
that most of the jail and
magistrate's offices, the
Sheriff's Department, and
9-1-1 Communications have
moved out, Facilities
Director Daniel Clifton
told commissioners
"there's no way to get the
wide-open space that's
needed for more
courtrooms" given the
location of support
columns in the present
structure.
County Manager Rick Hester
told the Weekly Sun
this week that "no
decisions have been made"
about a site for the
annex, "but the favorable
location would be in the
Courthouse area." He said
"funding would likely come
from county tax dollars,"
although most judicial
operations are funded by
the state.
Priority No. 3 on the list
is construction of a new
administration building,
presumably on a portion of
the recently purchased
acreage east of town. That
would likely house the
Register of Deeds office,
the Tax Office, the
Finance and Human
Resources departments, and
a larger chamber for the
County Commissioners.
Commissioner Stovall said
expanded space for the
county's Health Department
is also an urgent need.
"It's not going to look
good to the public that
you're going to
accommodate bureaucrats"
in a new administration
building "ahead of the
public" in need of health
services, he said.
Mr. Stovall suggested an
interim measure could be
moving some Health
Department functions into
nearby spaces to be
vacated by the relocation
of Social Services into
new quarters east of
town....
The present
Social Services "campus"
includes the old Johnston
County Hospital, which
faces Hancock Street, plus
a contemporary addition (shown
above on the right),
the former Agricultural
Building next door (above
on the left), and a
newer though smaller
office close to Seventh
Street (right).
Other facility needs of
lower priority on the
commissioners' list
include new quarters for
the county's Animal
Shelter, the Livestock
Arena, and the Veterans
Service office. Where
those new facilities might
be sited is unsettled.
Another project on the
list that would be tied to
the new Public Safety
Center east of town is an
Emergency Management
logistics center and
warehouse facilities.
The entire
two-day planning retreat
is archived on the
county's YouTube
channel>
A scene from the
county board's planning
retreat last week: (left
to right) Commissioners
Butch Lawter, Patrick
Harris, Mike Rose, April
Stephens, and County
Manager Rick Hester.
(County of Johnston
photo)
Council
rescinds West Smithfield
townhouse plan
When
the Town of Smithfield
approved construction
plans for Whitney Townes
on April 17, 2023, the
developer had two years to
get building permits and
start construction of the
68-unit townhouse project
adjacent to the vacant
Heilig Meyers and K-mart
store buildings off West
Market Street or else
forfeit its "vested right"
to proceed – unless
granted a deadline
extension.
By unanimous vote, the
Smithfield Town Council
Tuesday night decided not
to grant an extension.
Whitley Townes LLC had
requested pushing the
deadline to start
construction from April 17
(two weeks from now) to
December 31.
Planning Director Stephen
Wensman pointed out that
the council last year
eliminated multi-family
housing as a permitted use
in B-3 business zoning
districts. (Whitney Townes
was approved in a B-3 zone
in October 2021). Mr.
Wensman also noted that
the owner of the
Heilig-Meyers and K-mart
complex has recently
submitted plans for
re-purposing those
buildings for commercial
use and adding a "strip"
shopping center in the
parking lot.
As a result of the
council's action Tuesday,
the Whitney Townes site
would now have to be
rezoned R-8 residential
for the project to
proceed, Mr. Wensman said.
Would the council approve
that rezoning? By not
granting Whitney Townes an
extension to start
construction this year, it
appears the answer is "not
likely."
Meanwhile, two large
townhouse projects are
moving toward completion
in West Smithfield.
Franklin Townes on
Wilson's Mills Road is
well along, with some of
its units finished and
occupied. Finley Landing
across from Amazon
includes townhouses as
well as single-family
houses, and its developer
recently won approval from
the council to build even
more townhouses there
rather than apartments as
originally planned.
Another
new member added to
Downtown Development
board
The
Town Council appointed
Christopher Lopez, a
professional chef who
resides on North Third
Street, to the non-profit
Downtown Smithfield
Development Corporation's
Board of Directors. He was
owner and operator of a
restaurant in Downtown
Raleigh before he and his
wife moved here. The other
members of the board are
listed on the
Downtown Smithfield
website>
At
last: a plan for
renovating the vacant
old hotel
The
Smithfield Planning Board
during its monthly meeting
at 6 p.m. today (Thursday)
will be asked to endorse a
plan to renovate the
vacant building at Fourth
and Johnston streets into
nine two-bedroom
apartments. A Durham-based
developer bought the
property two years ago.
The hotel opened for
business in 1937 (as
shown in the old
postcard above) and
from 1962 until 1998 was
used as the Town of
Smithfield's Municipal
Building. The town sold
the property to a group of
local investors in 1999
after constructing the
present-day Town Hall
nearby.
HELLO,
APRIL!
No foolin': It's here again,
and the stars of this week's
show in Smithfield are the
dogwoods – both white and
pink – illustrated by this
scene along Crescent Drive.
Not so welcome is the heavy
pine pollen that has
"yellowed" us up recently.
But it should be gone soon –
if we could get a decent
rainstorm....
March rainfall near normal;
year-to-date total
still lags
March
produced 4.42 inches of rain
measured at Cornell Cox's
Backyard Weather Station in
South Smithfield, bringing
our total for the first
three months of 2025 to 9.15
inches. The year-to-date
total is two inches below
Smithfield's normal rainfall
of 11.25 inches during the
first three months,
according to U.S. Climate
Data.
Smithfield driver's license office to
open an hour earlier
The N.C Division
of Motor Vehicles
will extend hours at
many of its
driver-license
offices beginning
next week. As a
result, the
Smithfield office on
US 301 South will be
open 7 a.m.
till 5 p.m. Monday
through Friday. (The
Smithfield office is not
among a batch of offices
statewide that will open
on Saturdays this summer.
An office in Clayton is
included.) VIEW the
NCDOT's guide to
license-renewal
options>
A
Public Service
Announcement
Click here
for more information
WHAT'S COMING UP
Downtown's
"Wine Walk" Friday will
benefit Harbor
The
Spring Wine Walk continues
from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday,
starting at the riverside
home of the Neuse Little
Theatre on Front Street.
Hosted by the Downtown
Development Corporation,
the event will benefit
Harbor of Johnston County,
the "safe haven for
families" threatened by
domestic violence and
abuse.
Tickets may
be purchased in advance
online>
County
Commissioners to get
report on Senior
Services
The
Johnston County Board of
Commissioners will meet
twice on Monday in the
Courthouse in Smithfield.
At the 10 a.m. meeting the
board will receive an
update on activities of
Community and Senior
Services of Johnston
County.
VIEW the
complete agenda for the
10 a.m. session>
At the 6 p.m. meeting the
board will conduct a
public hearing on just one
land-use petition: a
request to change the
zoning of a one-acre site
in Elevation Township from
Community Business to
Industrial. VIEW the
complete 6 p.m.
agenda>
Board
of Education's monthly
meeting next Tuesday
The
meeting is scheduled to
begin at 4 p.m. with a
closed session followed by
the open business session
around 5 p.m. at Johnston
County Public Schools
headquarters on US 70
Business east of I-95 at
Smithfield.
VIEW the
complete agenda once
it's posted online>
A
WORD (OR TWO) FROM
THE EDITOR
Suspense
continues to build
toward local tax rates
And
there's still no credible
estimate on where county
and town property-tax
rates will land this year
in the wake of recent
real-estate revaluation.
As we learned from last
week's planning retreat
held by Johnston's County
Commissioners, the new
rate for the county will
not only determine the
amount of this year's tax
bills for residents and
businesses but also will
play a huge role in how
far commissioners will go
in the near future toward
financing a lengthy list
of facility needs beyond
school-bond issues.
Is it likely we'll see
"revenue neutral" tax
rates for the County of
Johnston and the Town of
Smithfield this year?
That's doubtful. For one
thing, "revenue neutral"
means no allowances
for growth – a
double-edged sword since
"growth," a.k.a.
"development," means a
larger tax base on one
side of the ledger offset
by public demands for more
school classrooms, more
police officers and
emergency responders, more
public-health
professionals, more
garbage and trash
collectors, more parks and
recreation amenities.
Furthermore, "revenue
neutral" in theory could
keep this year's tax-bill
increases palatable for
many yet actually reduce
taxes for others,
especially businesses and
industries that aren't
seeing big jumps in
valuations of their
equipment because the
state requires the value
of those assets to be
revised annually. The
county hasn't changed
real-estate valuations
since 2019, and market
conditions in our
fast-growing region have
raised those numbers
substantially since then.
Overall, real-estate
values determined by the
county have gone up 70.6%
this year. But don't
believe what you hear or
read about everyone's tax
bills going up that much.
While "revenue neutral"
tax rates appear
unrealistic at this point,
it's a safe bet that new
rates to be set by the
county and the town this
spring will be something
less than last year's
rates.
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