Mayor Rains shares plans for Princeton in new year
By Barry Merrill
NL Publisher
02 January 2008 — The recent approval of the new pump station to serve the new Princeton Elementary School has helped set the tone for the coming year, looking at growth opportunities for the town.
Mayor Don Rains came to the News Leader office Monday to offer his perspectives about the major goals for the town during the coming year. It is also likely to be much of the agenda when the town board goes for a retreat at the town hall on Saturday, January 12.
His first priority, however, was more basic: a vacancy in the town’s maintenance department, and improving town services with the filling of that post.
There was an eye to growth and the future. They have re-written the job description to include maintenance of the town’s water distribution and sewer collection system. “We hope the position will grow into a public works director position, as we take over more of the responsibilities for repairing water lines and sewer lines.
He spoke to the practicality of town workers taking on those jobs, as he noted that many of the sewer lines in town were re-done four years ago, and this year, with the recently funded water project, water lines will be done this year. “The lines should be in pretty good shape.” He emphasized that taking on the maintenance responsibilities should be a significant cost savings to the town.
Planning and zoning will be a major concentration, he said, particularly in view of the recent county approval of an extra one-mile jurisdiction around the town. “We will need to be looking at re-zoning to meet the character of the new areas blending the county zoning and our zoning.” He also said the recent hiring of a building inspector on a contract basis will help with the additional responsibilities of the expanded area.
He expects the town will look at annexation and be doing a study of the areas around town that make sense. He emphasized that the town will be looking at every area around town. He stated that the town might grow by as much as one-third after acting on recommendations from the study.
He is most excited about the possibilities of a joint project with Pine Level to treat that town’s sewage and the potential it holds to offer development along US 70 between the two towns.
With inflow and infiltration work, along with the town’s new sewer plant, presently the town is using just 20% of their capacity. Pine Level, on the other hand, is sending their sewage to the county plant, which is already at 90% capacity.
Pine Level is presently considering a second forced main to pump sewage to Selma, where it flows on to the county plant. If the two towns and the county can reach agreements, funding could be put into place to connect with Pine Level’s sewer lines at the Peedin Street extension that runs to US 70 to send the flow to Princeton.
Mayor Rains said he would need to meet with Pine Level Mayor Jeff Holt and the two towns would need to reach agreements, which would cover Pine Level selling sewer service to areas along the line between the two towns, probably coinciding with Pine Level’s newly extended ETJ.
While there would be great benefit to Pine Level and the county for Princeton to treat Pine Level’s waste, there would also be great benefit to present Princeton sewer customers, as greater usage will bring economies of scale as the basic costs of operating the plant are spread over more users and gallons of usage. More sewage can be treated without significantly increasing the costs, meaning sewer rates may be lowered some more as usage increases.
While selling all of the town’s sewer capacity may be some ways off, there will also be some concern about paying for additional capacity.
Providing sewer along US 70 will greatly enhance opportunities for development in Princeton’s ETJ, to include residential, commercial, and possibly industrial.
Mayor Rains said a natural gas line that comes across US 70 near the Princeton Church of God would make for a natural area for the development of an industrial park, particularly with some newly available sewer. He said the lack of infrastructure to support industry has kept the area from any consideration for significant industrial prospects.
Two other areas will impact downtown Princeton.
At last month’s meeting, Smithfield representatives presented a tax credit which the county has approved that could be used as an incentive in Princeton for downtown re-development. The tax credit would grant back additional taxes on improvements building owners make in designated areas. The tax credit if the town board approves it would cover both additional town and county taxes for five years.
He also said that he expects the board to make some decisions soon on railroad crossings. A representative from the railroads is expected at the town’s January meeting, as plans are going forward to provide passenger service between Raleigh and Wilmington. He said there are some plans being put forth to make Goldsboro an AMTRAK stop, increasing local pressure for the town to help in that effort.
“We will need to discuss Princeton’s needs along with the development needs of eastern North Carolina.”
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