Bridgeport City Council unanimously passed a contract with Dodd Corporation for asphalt removal and city street paving, but voted to postpone a rezoning issue recommended by the Bridgeport Planning Commission as requested by Bridgeport business owner, Darren Abraham.

 

The proposed rezoning deals with 5.76 acres of land which runs the ridge line from the dock area of Abraham’s East Main Street flooring supply business, Abraham Linc, behind his warehouse and stretching to the vicinity of The Shoppes of Averil Place, Burnside Funeral Home and adjacent to Rosewood Heights housing development. The rezoning of the property – owned by Abraham - is two-fold: Tract A: Property situate along South Virginia Avenue from R1 (residential- one family) to B2 (business) and Tract B: Property stretching up the hill to Rosewood Heights from R1 to R3 (residential-multiple unit). Early in the process, residents in the area were advised of the proposed rezoning and three expressed concerns; those concerns addressed.

 

Community Development Director Randy Spellman conveyed Abraham’s intentions for Tract A: To expand the dock area at the warehouse to get trucks in and out more efficiently.  As for Tract, B, Abraham has no concrete plans. R3 zoning allowd for the building of duplexes, condominiums, town homes and other multi-family structures, Spellman said.

 

“Rezoning is a very touchy subject. We want to be as business friendly as we can, but we’re protecting our residents too,” said Councilman Dustin Vincent.

 

Vincent said before purchasing property, individuals take zoning classification into consideration. Rezoning, therefore, is taken very seriously by City Council, he said.

 

The matter will be discussed and considered after more information is made available to Council.

 

As Council’s representative on the planning commission, Mayor Bob Greer shared thoughts convened by Abraham at a meeting of that board.

 

“Mr. Abraham is a longtime corporate citizen of the city and is experiencing growth in his business and believed he needed to expand into space to meet his corporate needs,” Greer said. “The citizens expressed their concerns and I think those concerns were addressed. I encourage you (Council members) during this postponement to make a trip to Rosewood so you can visualize the distance between the proposed area considered for rezoning and the actual streets themselves so you can better have a feel for what we’re talking about.”

 

The contract with Dodd Corporation is in the amount of $251,945.50. Dodd was the lowest bidder for the project, which involves the paving of 15 city streets, said City Engineer Beth Fox. Also submitting bids were JF Allen, Bear Contractors and Mountaineer Contractor. Now that the contract has been approved by Council, work is expected to begin Monday and should be completed in about three weeks, Fox said.

 

 “More streets will be advertised for nighttime paving in the near future,” Fox said. “These will include Main Street and the side roads that have been disturbed during the water/sewer upgrade project.”

 

Council also passed on first reading an ordinance amending Bridgeport’s codified ordinances pertaining to dealings with utility companies.

 

“Basically, this is something we’ve been talking about for at least two years at strategtic planning sessions,” said City Attorney Dean Ramsey. “It relates to use of streets by utility companies – maintaining wires, poles, conduits and underground transition of lines. There are rules and regulations which basically say that once you have an existing franchise, that franchise controls their use of the city’s streets.”

 

Two or perhaps three of the city’s franchise agreements have expired and new agreements have been proposed.

 

“Hopefully, we’ll encourage each utility to come in and negotiate a franchise at which point we’ll negotiate and discuss regulations governing their use of city streets,” Ramsey said.

 

These types of franchise agreements are not unique. They are common among many cities, Ramsey said. City Manager Kim Haws said the agreements would be beneficial to both the city and utility companies involved. A second reading of the ordinance will take place at the next regularly-scheduled Council meeting.

 

Council also swore in five new members of Bridgeport Volunteers in Police Services: Completing the recent Citizens Police Academy and required subsequent sessions and official joining the VIPS are Rachel L. Underwood, Jo E. Hissam, Randall R. Hissam, Alicia D. Cross and Robert L. Strait. The candidates were sworn in by Mayor Greer and Bridgeport Police Officer Bart Sayers – who heads up the VIPS program – pinned each of the new officers. Assisting with the swearing-in ceremony were Bridgeport Police Chief John Walker and decorated VIPS member Kerry Hess. 

 

Also Wednesday night:

Coverage of these items is forthcoming on Connect-Bridgeport.