Blue Ridge Addresses Two Local Projects

The Blue Ridge City Council addressed two items last week for construction projects in the city. During the morning workshop Tuesday, both parties approached council to explain their situations. The first project dealt with a piece of property on 54 Robert’s Way onwned by Korzep and the second with the Waffle King Restaurant.

Speaking on the Robert’s Way project, Danny Anderson and Mike Hampton spoke to the council, explaining the situation. They urged the city to request an easement on a drainage pipe, saying that there’s a dispute whether the pipe is on city property or not. They also said that the city could change the pipe if it needs to be change, by way of an easement. However, they noted the pipe was installed in 1998, only 14 years old, which means it’s a new pipe. As such, the city should not have to change the pipe anytime soon, so that decision may not be applicable to the sitting council, Mayor Donna Whitener commented.

“If we could get a written easement that would cover the drain so we could get in there,”

Hampton said. Responding, Mayor Whitener recommended the council members visit the site to gain a better understanding of the situation before it voted at the evening meeting.

At the meeting later that evening, council asked for an easement for the drain and accepted the survey presented by Lane Bishop delineating the city line. In an email to FYN today, Mayor Whitener noted that the building is currently up for lease, adding that some applications have been submitted, but did not have further information about them.

Also approaching the council, Attorney Byron Wyndham, representing Waffle King in Blue Ridge, addressed his client’s plan to expand his restaurant. Wyndham explained that Waffle King owner Eddie Ledford plans to expand his restaurant with a patio so it can accommodate lunch and dinner customers, as well as customers for breakfast.

“He’s (Ledford) trying to expand his business to create a sort of an outdoor patio,”

he said. He went on to say that, in planning to build the patio, a zoning inspector raised the issue of the patio’s proximity to the street, a requirement to receive a pouring license for alcoholic beverages. Waffle King sits in a C2 (Commercial) zoning area. According to the discussion, C2 zoning requires the structure to be 25 feet away from a public road. However, another requirement gives a distance of 75 feet. Further, in the morning workshop, Wyndham noted these requirements pertained to public streets and the area in question dealt with easements, meaning private arrangements.

“It (the planned patio) will open,”

he said,

“it will be covered; you will have a wooden deck out there, but it doesn’t come to the roads; they’re easements.”

Wyndham brought a map of the area to the morning meeting to show the council the plans for expansion and the streets surrounding the restaurant.

Later, at the regular meeting, the council voted to amend the alcohol ordinance to accomodate the zoning ordinance, which allows Ledford to obtain a pouring licesne. In an email to FYN today, City Manager Bill Sowers stated that the city attorney has been notified and should have an amendment by the first of next week.