Cleveland Town Board Feb 2023 - Residents Unhappy About Goat Rules
Nineteen residents showed up for the meeting. Usually there are only a couple of people. Most of the attendees came in support of John and Mary Beth Babcock who signed up to address the board. The Babcocks were upset about the new code enforcement which was recently approved by the board. They had been notified that they were not allowed to have goats in town limits and that they had to get rid of the goats or pay daily fines.
Mrs. Babcock read from a prepared statement. She said that the goats had not been an issue for five years but that the family had been notified that they needed to get rid of the goats or face fines. She said that the goats were her 11-year-old daughter's pets and helped Lilly learn life skills. Mrs. Babcock said that they home-schooled and that this issue impacted on their "religious beliefs."
Mr. Babcock said that he and his wife had grown up on farms and that they moved from Charlotte to Cleveland so that they had more freedom. They settled in on Johnstone Road on four acres and then bought an adjoining vacant lot so now have seven acres. He said that getting the vacant lot and cleaning it up had cost about 70K.
The family has chickens, two rabbits, and four miniature goats. He said they gather eggs and garden for produce and do not bother neighbors (many who came to the meeting in support).
He said a police officer had come because some goats were loose but that they were not his goats which are pygmy goats. Still, he was told that he had to get rid of his goats.
"Somewhere we are violating the letter of the law," he said.
Babcock said that they had retained a lawyer from Salisbury and would be meeting with the lawyer a week from Friday. He said that he hoped that the lawyer would help the town draft an exemption to the zoning rule and would include language that would work for everyone. He said that maybe people who had five acres or more could have animals like the goats.
"We want to do the right thing," Babcock stated.
Babcock said he would like to speak to every town board member individually and explain his situation and hope that they will "permit us is a lawful way" to keep the goats.
Mayor Pat Phifer said that the board could take one of three actions:
1. vote (to approve or not)
2. take no action
3. refer to the zoning board for a recommendation
Commissioner Richard Taylor pointed out that he got chickens for his yard in 1989. He said that he discovered that zoning allowed for only one chicken after a neighbor complained about the chickens being loose (when actually it was a porcupine that was wandering).
"We changed it," said Taylor.
Commissioner Gerald Osborne made a motion to refer the issue to the zoning board and Commissioner Danny Gabriel seconded. Commissioner Travis Summitt asked for an amendment to discontinue fines pending a decision. The board agreed unanimously. Zoning meets February 27 at town hall.
In addition to the Babcock’s, resident Gustavo Diaz was also on the agenda. He appeared to request water/sewer for his lot at 208 Hill N Dale. His lot is outside town limits while most of the other lots in the development are in town limits. He said he had sewer covered but hoped to get town water.
Phifer said that town maintenance could look over the next ten days to determine if it would work out to add Diaz to the water line. Phifer said that the line would only go to the edge of the property and that Diaz would have to do the line from his house to the main line and that his charges would be twice that of a town resident.
Public Hearing
The scheduled public hearing to change the old gas station property lot across from Leo’s barber shop from general business to central business was approved with no residents showing up to debate the change. The change holds that lot to the same rules and regulations as other properties in that area.
Bills to Pay
The board took action on a number of bills that needed to be paid.
Land Use Committee – The town will pay the chairman $50 per
meeting and members $35 per meeting monthly. Phifer said that was in line with what members of other town committees are paid.
Mental Health - $5760 EAP for police officers and EMT and any other town employees in need of mental health assistance.
Wastewater Management Plan - $38,500. Osborne said that this was required by the state, so the town did not have a choice.
Industrial Safety Products - $3000. Summitt said that the fire department had given the town the equipment after they got it with a grant, so the town needed to check on that before spending money unnecessarily
Roseman Water Tank Project - $3570. More work was added to the original approved payment including adding another rail on the water tank and painting on the logo freehand.
Cleveland Fire Dept - $21,168 This money goes to pay salaries for firefighters.
McGill -Tabled to get other estimates for comparison for AIA.
Kemp - (cost not given at meeting). The town had an aerator fail at the wastewater treatment plant due to the shaft being unlevel. This same problem had resulted in having to buy three bearings in eight years per Osborne. The cost to reset the shaft should prevent this from being an ongoing problem.
Brown-Little – $1147. New laptop and dock station. Wastewater treatment plant had been using an old computer that belonged to Phifer and was last updated in 1997.
Tim Johnson Landscaping – Three charges for mowing at the cemetery, highway medium and town hall at $6419, $6300, and $4725 yearly.
Southern Software - $4828. The town currently uses Sage software, but finance officer Rebekah Brown said that they did not open the office until 11 a.m. so were not available to answer questions when town hall opened at 8 a.m. Southern States and Black Mountain (out of Montana) $26,615 were the two bids obtained.
Police Report
Police Chief Jon Jessop reported the following for January 2023:
40 calls for service
29 traffic stops
18 traffic citations
14 warnings
2 warrants
2 arrests and then 1 arrest from Academy St.
2 accidents
There will be a road closing in Cleveland for the WRBT (West Rowan Bible Teachers Association) 5K race. Only half the street will be closed. The town will borrow extra cones from Salisbury. Phifer said that he priced safety signs for the event, but the price was really high, so he was going to look around some more.
Phifer said that West Rowan is the only place in the county that has a Bible teacher and is paid by fundraising in the community.
Phifer said this was “something to be proud of.”
Jessop reported that he and Brown had attended a county meeting dealing with the opioid epidemic. He said that Rowan County would be getting 15 million from settlements with the drug companies that would be used to deal with the problems over 18 years.
Town Park Update
Taylor reported that some of the big chunks of road debris in the town park parking lot had now been ground up. There had been a delay in getting the grinding done, because the company hired had been unable to borrow a grinder. The owner of the company bought a grinder but said it was small so would take time.
The company that is doing the debris grinding has been asked to submit estimates to add a basketball and pickle-ball court at the town park.
Taylor asked that anyone in town who knew someone who would work on the ballfield at the park should get in touch. He said that he had asked five different people about working on the field and none of them had ever given him estimates for the work.
Urban Archery
Board members voted to participate in urban archery again this year. The town has participated in that for six or seven year per Phifer.
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