Council due to hear about Beacon Light overhaul


The Henderson City Council will hear several reports Monday night that could put the city on the path to improvement.

The biggest might be a scheduled presentation from William Rogers, the chairman of the Beacon Light Masonic Lodge, on plans for an overhaul of the publicly subsidized Beacon Light Apartments, home to 108 families. The Masonic lodge owns the complex off Water Street, which has been plagued by sewage and plumbing problems and has long been one of the city’s busiest areas for the police.

Beacon Light has planned a major renovation for years and now expects to close next month on a $3.5 million loan through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Rogers declined an interview request before receiving a letter with final HUD confirmation of the loan, though he said he’s sure Beacon Light will receive the approval.

He appeared before the council’s Community Development Committee on March 9 and described the project, which includes ripping up concrete-slab floors to get at the troublesome pipes. He said Beacon Light has spent $200,000 on plumbing in the past year alone.

City officials were due to tour Beacon Light on Thursday, but the snow that day postponed those plans.

The Beacon Light complex dates to 1973. In an interview in July 2003, after residents complained about a series of sewage leaks, Rogers acknowledged that the complex had taken a beating over 30 years.

But he said he was proud that his lodge made an effort to bring decent, low-cost housing to Henderson. And he said he hoped the renovations would make Beacon Light “premier apartments — ones that future apartment seekers will see as attractive.”

The condition of the apartments and the surrounding area was one of the City Council’s federal lobbying priorities this year until the news of the HUD financing arrived in late February. Council member Lonnie Davis, who represents the area, also has asked the Clean Up Henderson Committee to address the problem of the trash-strewn woods just off the roads leading to the housing complex.

Rogers plans to ask the City Council to support the Beacon Light overhaul by addressing such problems as litter and crime around the project’s perimeter.

Also tentatively scheduled to ask for council help Monday night are lawyer James Green and developer Cliff Rogers, who are members of the Vance County Coalition Against Violence and the unnamed anti-crime working group that formed as a way to coordinate efforts across the county and to bring in outside money to enhance those efforts.

At a meeting of the working group Wednesday morning, Rogers called on the city and county to jointly fund a grant writer. To bring in grants, Rogers said, the local governments will have to provide seed money.

City officials’ role in private fund raising produced a letter of appreciation that Mayor Clem Seifert will read during his opening remarks Monday night. He, council members John Wester and Mike Rainey, and City Manager Eric Williams participated in the Franklin-Granville-Vance Partnership for Children’s Time-Out Tuesday fund-raiser to launch local participation in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a program that provides free books each month to children up to age 5.

By late Thursday, the fund-raiser had brought in $5,815, and the money was still coming in. Williams was responsible for raising more than $2,000 of that total.

Seifert also will report on his recent trip to Washington with council members Rainey and Davis for the National League of Cities conference. In an interview after his return, Seifert said one of the good ideas he brought back is the formation of youth councils in Henderson.

In some old, much-debated business, City Engineer Frank Frazier is due to make a recommendation on the type, number and position of speed bumps to be installed on a trial basis on Granite Street. The city has installed two 25-mph speed limit signs to try to slow traffic between Chestnut and Garnett streets.

Also, Williams is due to present his plan to forgive the late fees Shank Street resident Samuel Smith has piled up on his water bill the past three years. That action would reduce Smith’s overdue bill from roughly $399 to $9 and help Smith avoid disconnection.

Reports due back to the council that could spark discussion cover an inventory of burned-out houses from Fire Chief Danny Wilkerson; the plan from a special council committee to complete Williams’ performance appraisal; and a report from the city staff on issues council member Elissa Yount raised about city-county cooperation.

Among items requiring council action:

* Four budget amendments backed by the Finance and Intergovernmental Relations Committee. None of them is controversial.

* A public hearing and decision on the proposed rezoning of a triangular lot at the corner of West Andrews Avenue and Beckford Drive from high-density residential to highway commercial. The Planning Board voted against the change for the 0.84-acre lot. Southeastern Shelter Corp. and Jerry Chesson hope the council overrules the Planning Board.

* A proposal to sell a lot on Beckford Drive beside the Operations & Service Center to Schewel Furniture for $90,000 after sales commissions. The council gave tentative approval to the deal last month but had to advertise for higher bids.

* A proposed maintenance code for commercial buildings, based on the city’s minimum-housing code. City Attorney John Zollicoffer drafted enabling legislation for the General Assembly to give Henderson the power to create and enforce an ordinance on a commercial maintenance code. Tuesday might be the deadline to present the legislation, forcing the council to act Monday night or wait a year.