The towns of Huntersville, Cornelius and Davidson, in coopesration with Mecklenburg County and United Family Services, have agreed to finance a full-time victim’s advocate position starting this year.
“It is a done deal, now there are just a few details to work out,” Huntersville Town Manager Greg Ferguson says. “The towns and the county, along with United Family Services, have committed the funds to operate the program.”
Each town will contribute $15,000 to the victim’s advocate program. The county will provide another $15,000 and UFS will contribute $15,000 to complete the funding to cover all expenses for the local victim’s advocate program for one year.
The advocate will provide individuals and families victimized by criminal activity with access to services and information designed to help them obtain assistance and understand their rights.
In addition to enhancing the services available for local crime victims, a full-time victim’s advocate has also been identified as a necessary step toward securing a full-time magistrate to serve the north Meck region.
At the Huntersville Town Board’s June 6 meeting, support for the victim’s advocate position —either funded as a part-time position just for the town or as part of the cooperative full-time program — was unanimous, but opinions about the advocate’s role in laying the ground work fora magistrate differed.
Commissioner Ron Julian said he believed it had been clearly communicated from the county that a victim’s advocate is a first step toward a magistrate assignment, but Commissioner SarahMcAulay, while not wavering on support for the advocate program, said she didn’t believe it would help in the effort to obtain a full-time magistrate’s office.
“I think we are being falsely led here,” McAulay said at last week’s meeting. “I don’t think this is a step toward a magistrate, but I do support it.”
North Meck’s victim’s advocate will be based at UFS’s Cornelius office, but Ferguson said some space in municipal buildings may also be provided on a temporary or as-needed basis.
Walmart’s next step
While Walmart’s plan to locate in the massive Bryton development in southern Huntersville was big news at last week’s town board meeting, the timetable for the next step is uncertain.
Last week’s approval of the sketch plan for Bryton’s first construction phase clears the path ford evelopers to present detailed, specific plans for roads and multiple other aspects of the 28.23-acre piece of the 428-acre transit-oriented development buffered by N.C. 115, Everette Keith Road and Alexanderana Road. But there is no immediate deadline for plan submittal or the start of construction.
“The next step is up to the developers,” says Huntersville Senior Planner Whitney Hodges.“The next process will involve a staff report and staff approval on a site plan they submit related to specific development of the phase involved.”
Hodges says developers needed the general project approval from the town in order to move forward with more detailed plans for presentation to the N.C. Department of Transportation and other agencies with review authority over the development.
The sketch plan approval, Hodges says, acknowledges the developers’ intent to proceed with the project while providing a protected, three-year window for plans to progress. The vested rights period for the project’s first phase will essentially begin Jan. 1, 2012, and continue until 2015.
Also at last week’s meeting, some familiar faces welcomed a few new ones on administrative and advisory boards as the Town Board filled four seats on the planning board and three positions on the board of adjustment.
The planning board is an 11-member panel that serves in an advisory role to the town board, reviews subdivision plans and considers cases that involve changes or requests for changes in the town’s zoning regulations. The board then forwards recommendations for action to the town board.
New members Robert Cameron and Art Van Wingerden were appointed to the board. Cameron filled one of the seats reserved for in-town residents and Van Wingerden, of Metrolina Greenhouse Van Wingerdens, was appointed as an extra-territorial jurisdiction representative. Current Planning Board Chairman Bruce Anderson and member Hal Bankirer were re-appointed.
The board of adjustment deals with issues concerning enforcement of the town’s zoning ordinance on individual property and hears variance requests for property owners seeking relief from some aspects of the town’s regulations. The board has seven members and three alternates. Two members, Raymond Kudlak and Jonathan Melvin, were appointed to new three-year terms and Jerry Sturch was selected to fill one of the alternate seats.
