While it is only a small path to the road to a new Manning Elementary School, the Roanoke Rapids Planning Board Thursday will consider a proposed amendment to that would allow elementary and secondary schools in the B-4 zoning district.
A public hearing on the matter will be held at 5:30 in the first floor conference room of city hall.
The planning board will consider whether to allow elementary and secondary schools in that district through issuance of a zoning permit, a memo from Planning and Development Director Kelly Lasky to planning board members says.
Schools are currently allowed in six of the city’s residential districts. “The B-4 business district was established to accommodate the widest range of commercial uses,” the memo says and the staff recommendation is that the table of permitted uses be revised to permit elementary and secondary schools in the B-4 zoning classification by the issuance of a zoning permit.
The allowance of schools in that zoning classification would help the city school system in its planning for a new elementary school.
There is still much to work to do, however, and another study both the school system and the county are waiting to review, said Doug Miller, the system’s maintenance and transportation director. “We bought the Winn-Dixie Shopping Center but we have to get the green light from the county. The long-range plan said we would get it but there was the Evergreen study and the MBAJ study.”
The MBAJ study, County Manager Tony Brown said, is one dealing with a settlement reached between the county and Weldon City Schools when the county declined to fund a new high school. “Part of the settlement was to get a study to see what schools should be built,” he said. “I think they’re finalizing the report.”
That means any decision is now on hold until the county receives the MBAJ report. “As currently approved, Manning is next,” Brown said.
The MBAJ report, Brown said, will help commissioners decide whether to stay on the current course or deviate since the Evergreen study did not recommend consolidation or merger.
Miller said the city school system would wait. “We own that land. It will make a nice addition to the Manning site.”
