The Clinton City Council approved a request Tuesday night to convert an existing structure at 920 Southwest Blvd. into a four-unit apartment building with eight parking spaces and a paved driveway.
According to council members, the request came from Salim Abdur-Rahman, Rosetta Abdur-Rahman and Jason Boykin.
During the meeting, the project’s engineer, Ronald Sparks of Sparks Engineering, spoke to the council about the project in hopes, he said, of answering any lingering questions. According to Sparks, the building that will be converted as a result of the request’s approval has been “unoccupied for many years.”
“This is an opportunity to use it and bring it back to life,” said Sparks. “Right now, if you drive by it, it’s just some simple brickwork that’s been done. By the end, we hope to have two staircases, one in front, one in the back, so that everyone has access from outside.”
In addition, Sparks promised that the property’s existing dirt driveway would be concrete by the project’s end.
“It has a dirt driveway. When I’m finished, that’s going to be a concrete driveway,” he stressed. “Pipes are already in place, so they don’t have to improve those.”
According to the project engineer, the current structure on the property is believed to have been a business at one time or another. Sparks said he, along with the group that made the request, have already been working towards turning the location into the apartments; they were just waiting on the council’s approval and additional permits, such a driveway permit from the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
“We’ve been working on taking down some of the walls inside and already getting them ready to turn into apartments,” said Sparks. “The DOT permit for the driveway is in process. There is already a permit from its original use. We’re working on getting some exterior lighting in, just some additional outside lighting.”
In addition to the building that is being turned into the apartments, there is also another building on the property that has been previously used as a single-family home. Sparks said this building would be untouched and remain as a single-family home.
The council unanimously voted for the structure to be converted into the apartments, however, city attorney Joel Starling clarified that the approval would be contingent on the DOT’s OK of the driveway permit. If the permit is not approved, then council’s decision would be invalid.
“We don’t have unfettered authority to put any sort of stipulation we can think of on the approval,” said Starling. “If it’s a reasonable stipulation, we have some authority to do that. This will already be subject to the approval from DOT. That sort of condition is already built into the process already.”