SILER CITY — Mountaire Farms continues to seek closure of a portion of East Third Street in Siler City.
Last October, Mountaire Farms, a Delaware-based poultry processing company which opened a plant on East Third Street earlier this year, filed petitions with the Town of Siler City to close a portion of the street adjacent to its property. The company also requested closing Johnson Street where a former mobile home park was located prior to Mountaire’s purchase of the property.
At the time of the first request, the Siler City Board of Commissioners were disinclined to close East Third Street, a main tributary into downtown, but in lieu of an outright rejection, the board provided the company a review period of no less than 90 days to re-work their plan to one that might be more amenable to the board. Since that time, Mountaire, town staff and representatives of the N.C. Dept. of Transportation have corresponded and met numerous times as Mountaire brings updated requests to try to satisfy the board’s concerns.
According to several different commissioner comments during an Oct. 7 board meeting, rumors have begun swirling that the town had approved a road closure request by Mountaire. Disturbed by this, the board requested an update on the review and petition at its meeting from Siler City Planning Director Jack Meadows.
Meadows noted that Mountaire has recently requested a change to the petition which would now involve a request to close portions of East Third to North Avenue, then extend Fifth Street down from North Avenue to create a new connection to East Third so that the road will still have access to U.S. Hwy. 64. Meadows said neither Mountaire nor town staff were “ready to present” the updated petition formally.
With each request and design change from Mountaire, Meadows notes the NCDOT reviews as well, not only because it would connect to an NCDOT maintained road, but because of the planned “speed street” project NCDOT has planned for Hwy. 64 where medians and turnabouts will be installed. Meadows noted that he had not heard back from NCDOT for its comments on this most recent proposal.
The board seemed skeptical of the proposal and wanted to ensure the process provided them and ample opportunity to review and consider any request. According to Meadows, once the town staff and NCDOT have all questions and concerns addressed, the matter will be brought before the board for its consideration. The town would then hold a public hearing which requires the town to publish the request for four consecutive weeks in the newspaper and send certified letters to all adjacent property owners.
During the public hearing, the public is provided the opportunity to voice their support or concerns about the proposal and the town can determine whether the public interest and the private property owners’ interests are being served by the request. If the town approves any plan, it would still need to go through a process with NCDOT.
The board was quick to note that it has made “no decision at this point” as it has not received a formal proposal. Therefore, East Third Street will remain open. There was no timeline for when Mountaire’s proposal might come before the board.
Reporter Casey Mann can be reached at CaseyMann@Chathamnr.com.