Board discusses potential removal of left turn restrictions at Raleigh Street and Chatham Avenue

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SILER CITY — The Siler City Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Monday to grant a performance guarantee request, discussed the left turn restrictions at Raleigh Street and Chatham Avenue and reviewed an update surrounding criminal activity at a local convenience store.

The performance guarantee is for the development of the multifamily residential apartments on W. 4th Street to allow a certificate of occupancy to be obtained. The proposed guarantee is a check made payable to the Town of Siler City for $18,062.50 — 125% of the cost estimate.

In addition, the board discussed the Siler City Downtown Advisory Committee’s recommendation of removing left turn restrictions at the intersection of Chatham Avenue and Raleigh Street.

The recommendation, which was advised and approved by the N.C. Dept. of Transportation, is to hold no left turn restrictions throughout the week from 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. at that intersection. These restrictions would be placed on a sign.

Concerns surrounding drivers who could potentially not be aware of the sign were brought up by commissioners.

“Well, my gut tells me if it’s not illuminated in some way or another then it’s going to be ignored,” Commissioner Chip Price said.

Siler City Police Chief Mike Wagner recommended for the sign to be illuminated in red.

“So the recommendation to make sure would be to have an illuminated no left turn signal during the designated time period, as opposed to just a placard sign,” he said. “But even if you have difficulty reading the sign, every DOT test says you must be able to recognize the sign. So if it’s a bright red illuminated sign, it really mitigates excuses that someone might have and we enforce it.”

The board also brought up potential issues with potentially more truck traffic coming from Mountaire Farms.

“I just want to make sure that you know that we’re not going to send more truck traffic down through downtown because that’s going to create more problems” Commissioner Bill Haiges said. “I think that, you know, with all of the parking and everything, it would be difficult for that.”

The board recommended that the issue would be researched more and then brought back for additional discussion.

The board also received an update about crime taking place at the Rite Stop Convenience Store located at 801 E. 11th St. and the corner of MLK Jr. Boulevard.

According to the memo, at the Sept. 8 board meeting, Commissioner Tony Siler asked Town Manager Roy Lynch about the loitering at the Rite Stop location.

Chief Wagner identified this area as a hot spot. The behavior associated with this type of loitering is consistent with the selling and purchasing of illegal drugs, prostitution, and the illegal consumption of alcohol, he said. The Rite Stop is one of several convenience stores where this type of behavior is observed.

In November 2019, the Siler City Police Department and North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement paired together in an eight-hour “Wolfpack” operation. During that timeframe, 39 people were cited/arrested, with a total of 58 charges.

Currently, the Rite Stop is under a 90-day suspension for illegal alcohol sales from the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement. In order to minimize that suspension, the owner paid a $10,000 fine to reduce it to 15 days.