The Clinton City Council OK’d conditional use permits to add three more rooms to Ashford Inn and outdoor kennels for Caring Hands Animal Hospital, and signed off on a request by Unity Baptist Church to conduct a tent revival next month.
Each of the requests received minimal discussion during a recent meeting, with the Council approving four conditions of use for each of the requests, including that the use would not endanger public health or safety, or injure property values, and will be in harmony with the area and conform to the Land Development Ordinance.
All three requests were previously recommended unanimously by the Planning Board. Their approval came during the Council’s recent meeting.
The conditional use permit requested by Mason and Patricia Tarr was to add three additional rooms for lodging in their existing bed and breakfast at 615 College St. The Ashford Inn, which is on a 0.6-acre property, currently has five rooms for lodging. The approved request permits the owners to convert three additional rooms within the existing building to additional guest rooms “as to accommodate an increased demand for lodging,” planning officials said.
The second request by Caring Hand Animal Hospital was to construct outdoor exercise runs/kennels to the existing operation, located at 121 North Blvd. The business is on approximately 4.8 acres and the proposed addition will be approximately 25 feet by 30 feet, containing 5 feet by 30 feet runs.
The outdoor exercise runs/kennels will only be used during the day, with a stipulation in the Land Development Ordinance that “there shall be no noise generating activities between the hours of 6 p.m. and 8 a.m.”
“The animals will be located in this area during the day only,” said planning director Mary Rose. “You recently amended this section last month to address the concerns with it being adjacent to residential properties, with there being adequate protection for those.”
Unity Baptist Church’s conditional use request was to conduct a tent revival to be located at the intersection of Beaverdam Drive and N.C. 403. The revival would be held throughout the week of Sept. 10, from Monday, Sept. 10, through Friday, Sept. 14, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. each evening.
The Rev. Chris Schneider, pastor of Unity Baptist Church, spoke to the matter during the Council’s meeting. Upon bringing the possibility of the event to Council members last month, Schneider was joined by the Rev. David Williams, pastor at Mill Creek Baptist in Roseboro, and the Rev. Chris Butler, youth pastor at Mt. Moriah United Methodist in Clinton. Schneider said any county churches would be participating, as well as those from Mount Olive and Fayetteville.
Schneider said preparation for the event would likely begin the previous Saturday, Sept. 8. He encouraged anyone and everyone to come out for the festivities.
“We just want to have a revival where people can come, feel welcome and be a part of the services,” explained the pastor. “We’ve got some good preaching and good singing that is going to be there. It’s just going to be a great time. We want to reach our community and help our community. I know just as good as a lot of folks that people will ride past a church and say ‘I’m not going there.’ They might go by a tent and say ‘let’s go see what this is about.’ They might pull in and get a blessing. That’s what we want to do.”
Council approved the permit request, contingent on the event meeting the requirements of the “special events” section of the city’s code, including that hours of operation be compatible with uses adjacent to the event, that noise not be disruptive, parking be accommodated and all litter cleaned up at no expense to the city.
Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137 ext. 121 or via email at sicrime@heartlandpublications.com.
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