New Bern may soon become a certified retirement community, a designation that could draw more visitors and potential residents.
New Bern aldermen approved an application proposal Tuesday night that will be submitted by the New Bern Tourism Development Authority to the state for recognition of the city as a retirement community. The cost of the application, which is good for five years, is $15,000 and is being paid by CarolinaEast Health System, which is partnering with TDA. There is no cost to the city.
Andre Nabors, manager, partner relations of Visit North Carolina, a unit of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, and Sabrina Bengel, chairman of the TDA, spoke to about 45 people Wednesday morning at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center about the N.C. Certified Retirement Community Program and its benefits for New Bern and surrounding communities.
When Bengel recently saw how the town of Edenton became a certified retirement community, she said her interest was piqued again.
“This is another step moving forward with economic development,” said Bengel, a downtown business owner, radio talk show host and former member of the Board of Aldermen.
The certification is a marketing tool that allows the city, county and communities to promote their attractions to people ages 55 and older. Nabors will present that information at consumer shows put on by the AARP and Ideal Living, in publications and on websites.
The certification also uses co-op marketing, magazines, visitor guides, consumer shows, social media like Facebook, and online marketing including the retirenc.com website.
“I know what marketing did for Weyerhaeuser and Carolina Colours,” Bengel said. “…The problem is in the last 10 years there has been no marketing going on and we need to fill that void.”
Bengel said she has heard from people who asked why New Bern would want to be known as a retirement community; many people thought it already was. But she said it would be a big benefit for the area.
“The dynamics of retirees has really changed,” she said.
Bengel and Nabors said more people are retiring in their 50s and bring valuable skills and insights to the communities they move to.
“Days of retirees sitting on the front porch are gone,” Nabors said. “Retirees now are very active.”
That activity could include riding bikes, exploring trails, volunteering and starting small businesses, he said.
Retirees usually visit a place five or six times before moving, Nabors said.
“They come and spend and bring their families,” he said. “The icing on the cake is when they come here to retire.”
The Certified Retirement Community started as a pilot program in Lumberton in 2008. Now there are 10 certified communities, Nabors said.
Annually, Nabors attends about five consumer shows, and receives about six inquires a week from retirees just from the Ideal Living consumer shows, he said.
A place like Myrtle Beach, S.C., spends about $45 million on marketing while North Carolina spends only $3 million, Nabors said. The TDA spends about $300,000 on marketing annually, Bengel said.
Yet North Carolina is the sixth most visited state in the country. By partnering with TDAs, the state is able to raise about $9 million for marketing, Nabors said.
Judy Avery, a TDA board member and marketing director for the Sun Journal, said in 2013 Craven County generated about $120.75 million from tourism, a 20 percent increase from 2012. There are also more than 1,000 jobs related to tourism and about $22 million in wages from tourism, she said.
Retirees’ buying power has a big economic impact on the county, but the biggest is 80 percent of them either buy or build a house when they move to New Bern, Avery said.
Avery said the Certified Retirement Committee that has been set up will use print and online marketing tools to promote the program, with a “Retire New Bern” magazine, with a 20,000 circulation annually and about 7,300 going to the visitors center, 5,000 to the state and 7,500 used locally.
The website will have a link that offers information and opportunities for local businesses and events to advertise, Avery said.
The city should learn in about 120 days if the state accepts it as a Certified Retirement Community.
Certified Retirement Communities in North Carolina
Asheboro
Eden
Edenton
Lumberton
Marion
Mount Airy
Pittsboro
Sanford and Lee County
Tarboro
Winterville
ASHEVILLE – When the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau originally planned to host a community forum about short-term rentals, it was going to be held in a 60-seat board room.
That idea didn’t last long.
As the executive director of the local tourism-centric organization welcomed nearly 200 people to the Diana Wortham Theatre for the public event Wednesday afternoon, Stephanie Pace Brown said, “Clearly this is an important issue to our community.”
Short-term rentals, which are defined in the city’s Unified Development Ordinance as rentals of less than 30 days, are illegal in most Asheville neighborhoods. However, a quick search on sites like Airbnb and Vacation Rentals by Owner reveals listings for hundreds of rentals that are technically banned in the city.
On Wednesday afternoon, a location-based query on Airbnb showed 795 listings in Asheville. By comparison, Raleigh — a city with five times Asheville’s population — had 409 rentals. Charlotte, with a population nine times greater than Asheville, featured 399 listings.
But as the event’s keynote speaker Lynn Minges, president and CEO of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association, explained, the problem with short-term rentals isn’t that the new lodging option exists in the marketplace. She said it’s how the rentals exist.
“They’re growing and thriving, and they’re doing that in a fairly unregulated environment,” Minges said.
Unlike the short-term rentals listed on Airbnb, the bed-and-breakfasts and hotels in Asheville must charge each guest a sales tax and the 4 percent Buncombe County occupancy tax.
In addition, the establishment must comply with a laundry list of building codes and operating standards, including providing guests with clean sheets, hot and cold running water, smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and fire escape plans, among others.
“Many short-term online rentals are amazingly able to connect with consumers through technological platforms, but they do not follow these same guidelines and we think that creates an unfair, un-level playing field for our members,” Minges said. “There is a lack of regulatory structure for the short-term online rental market and that, we believe, poses a threat to the welfare of guests and the broader community at large.”
As the co-owner of a bed-and-breakfast, Jim Muth, of the Beaufort House Inn, said the Airbnb listings down the street from his establishment are not his competition.
Muth was one of the individuals who sat on a six-person panel at the Wednesday event, along with stakeholders who represented neighborhood groups, vacation real estate, short-term rentals and the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce.
Speaking on behalf of the Asheville Bed and Breakfast Association, which drafted a position on short-term rentals long before the community forum, Muth said local BB owners do have some requests.
Muth said the organization would like to see short-term rental properties register with the city, collect occupancy tax, have insurance to cover liabilities, be inspected, have an on-site manager at the property and limit occupancy.
“At some point, there ought to be information available for people who are trying to get into the short-term rental business so that they know what the rules are,” he said. “There ought to not only be guidelines for some type of enforcement, but there ought to be some type of mentoring so that people can help them figure out how to get through the initial thickets of what’s required.”
CITIZEN-TIMES
As Asheville looks to regulate Airbnbs, BBs keep watch
Representing the Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods, Barber Melton said short-term rentals pose a serious threat to neighborhoods. She also said the properties negatively impact affordable housing in the city “big time.”
After referencing the less than 1 percent rental property vacancy in the city, Melton said, “So, if you make more money with short-term rentals, what are you going to do with your house? Hello!”
But Asheville is not alone in grappling with how to regulate short-term rentals around the state and around the country. Two years ago, the Austin City Council become the first Texas municipality to allow short-term rentals. Portland, Oregon, also wrestled with enforcement and permitting. On Tuesday night, Raleigh City Council members deferred a ruling on the regulation and legality of Airbnb to its Law and Public Safety Committee.
Minges said the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association is actively trying to work with members in the General Assembly to find a way to regulate short-term rentals on a state level.
Kit Cramer, president and CEO of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, said the question going forward will be how and where this issue is decided.
“The question for us right now is whether or not that solution should be local or whether it should be statewide. I’m happy to know that there are proponents for looking at a statewide solution for things because I think consistency is always helpful in this regard,” Cramer said.
The closest thing Asheville has to the regulation of short-term properties is complaint-driven enforcement, where people can report short-term rentals to the city and the city can cite these property owners and ask them to cease their operations.
Because of this, short-term rental owner Kama Ward said many individuals who have short-term rentals in the city limits are afraid to speak publicly about this matter. However, she said for the most part, short-term renters already agree with many of the requests businesses have about regulating short-term rental properties.
“This is what almost every single responsible owner says, ‘I want to be able to register.’ When they register, they get a best practices folder that says they must pay taxes,” she said. “Any person who is renting a home, a room, a tent, a bus, anything else anywhere in North Carolina is, right now, obligated to pay those sales and occupancy taxes. If you’re not doing that, you’re violating the law.”
Other areas where Ward said short-term rental owners agree with businesses include safety. However, she said she does have a concern.
“The only thing that I would say where we might have a little bit of a disagreement is that short-term rentals are considered residential instead of commercial as far as the state of North Carolina goes,” she said. “What I can tell is that it’s very distinct in the Vacation Rental Act; it’s a residential property for vacation rental.”
Though the issue of short-term rentals has not been formally heard before City Council, the city commissioned a study on the topic last year to help update the short-term rental policy to adapt to the changing vacation rental market.
The 31-page report set out to address three core concerns: minimizing negative impacts on residential neighborhoods, leveling the playing field for traditional lodging businesses, like hotels and bed-and-breakfasts, and reducing the impact on affordable rental housing.
During the hour dedicated to comments and questions from audience members, those themes emerged multiple times. In total, more than 15 people shared their opinions and asked questions at the microphone.
“The city has no good record of enforcing much of anything, and I’m not sure if we’re going to do any better with short-term rentals,” said Mike Lewis, an Asheville resident who lives near a short-term rental property.
As officials at the state and local level wrestle with regulations on short-term rentals, Jake Quinn urged Asheville officials to remember that a one-size-fits-all model may not be effective.
“I would ask that our Chamber of Commerce recognize that regulation at the state levels are needed and are appropriate, but that should not eliminate municipality from coming up with something stricter,” he said.
As people continued to come up to the microphone to talk, the comments ranged widely. Some said there is a clear need for more regulation of short-term rentals. One man said the problem may be that there are too many regulations for small business as a whole. However, Lisa Shoemaker said there was one core point that was missing from the entire conversation.
Referencing an earlier comment about the tourism explosion in Asheville not being by chance, Shoemaker said tourism can be credited to the creative class and the alternative lifestyle.
“The increase in tourism is due in large part to our arts and our unique community, and that is also why we are so successful on Airbnb and other vacation rentals, because the people who are coming to Asheville are coming to meet those people,” she said. “This is keeping people in their home, allowing them to pay rent. This is not a business; this is a new phenomenon called the share community. That’s what’s going on here. People are sharing their lives with each other, and in doing so, making it affordable and livable and enjoyable for the whole community.”
January 14, 2015; St. Louis, Mo. – The Kansas Chapter of the American Concrete Institute has named the Mars Chocolate North America facility in Topeka, Kansas as the recipient of the 2014 Low Rise Buildings Award. As a member of the project team, CRB completed the detailed architectural and engineering design and provided on-site construction support. Optimal Engineering Solutions, Inc. was partnered with CRB and responsible for the structural design. The purpose of this competition is to recognize and encourage excellence in concrete design and construction within the State of Kansas.
“We’re honored that the Topeka facility has been recognized by the Kansas ACI Chapter as a 2014 recipient,” said Bret Spangler, Site Director – Topeka, Mars Chocolate North America. “This award-winning facility is the direct result of years of hard work, collaboration, and commitment to excellence by all those involved.”
The American Concrete Institute award comes on the heels of the facility achieving LEED® Gold Certification in the fall of 2014. Tilt-up insulated concrete construction, executed by Lithko Contracting, was used for the building exterior and was key to enabling the project to meet the clean design requirements of Mars, schedule for enclosure and LEED energy reduction goals. This selection was based on careful study of the energy effect, balancing cost with best application of concrete for long term durability and justification.
About CRB
CRB is a full-service network of engineers, architects, constructors and consultants assisting advanced technology organizations in the planning, design, construction and operational support of facilities across the globe. With world-class technical expertise and an empowered team of 600-plus, we relentlessly pursue and deliver the right solutions to our clients’ technical challenges, no matter how big or small. CRB has thirteen production offices located in: Kansas City, Mo.; St. Louis, Mo.; Raleigh, N.C.; Philadelphia, Pa.; San Diego, Calif.; San Jose, Calif.; Los Angeles, Calif.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Kalamazoo, Mich.; Boston, Mass., Boulder, Colo., Baltimore, Md., and Atlanta, Ga.
For more information, please visit www.crbusa.com. Follow us: linkedin.com/company/crb-consulting-engineers, facebook.com/crb1984, twitter.com/crb_usa.
About Mars, Incorporated
In 1911, Frank C. Mars made the first Mars candies in his Tacoma, Washington kitchen and established Mars’ first roots as a confectionery company. In the 1920s, Forrest E. Mars, Sr. joined his father in business and together they launched the MILKY WAY® bar. In 1932, Forrest, Sr. moved to the United Kingdom with a dream of building a business based on the objective of creating a “mutuality of benefits for all stakeholders” – this objective serves as the foundation of Mars, Incorporated today. Based in McLean, Virginia, Mars has net sales of more than $33 billion, six business segments including Petcare, Chocolate, Wrigley, Food, Drinks, Symbioscience, and more than 75,000 Associates worldwide that are putting its Principles into action to make a difference for people and the planet through its performance.
Mars brands include: Petcare – PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, WHISKAS®, BANFIELD® Pet Hospital, CESAR®, SHEBA®, DREAMIES® and NUTRO®; Chocolate – MM’S®, SNICKERS®, DOVE®, GALAXY®, MARS®, MILKY WAY® and TWIX®; Wrigley – DOUBLEMINT®, EXTRA®, ORBIT® and 5™ chewing gums, SKITTLES® and STARBURST® candies, and ALTOIDS® AND LIFESAVERS® mints. Food – UNCLE BEN’S®, DOLMIO®, EBLY®, MASTERFOODS®, SEEDS OF CHANGE® and ROYCO®; Drinks – ALTERRA COFFEE ROASTERS™, THE BRIGHT TEA COMPANY™, KLIX® and FLAVIA®; Symbioscience – COCOAVIA® and WISDOM PANEL®.
For more information, please visit www.mars.com. Follow us: facebook.com/mars, twitter.com/marsglobal, youtube.com/mars, linkedin.com/company/mars.
Making what was described as a “four-year decision” took St. Andrew’s star tight end Jake Bargas about 24 hours to contemplate.
Bargas, a the three-star prospect, decommitted from Wake Forest on Sunday. By Monday, he committed with another Atlantic Coast Conference program in the University of North Carolina.
“When I was making my final decision, (education) along with football is something it came down to,” Bargas said. “Football is only a small part of life and I wanted to make a 40-year decision. A degree will prepare me for the rest of my life. Football is only for four years.”
Bargas said he will major in business and hopes to use his degree to work on Wall Street.
At 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, Bargas was coveted by several schools early in his recruitment until he initially chose Wake Forest. After he decommitted from the Demon Deacons, he told the Sun Sentinel on Sunday evening he’d have a decision made by Monday evening.
North Carolina aggressively pursued Bargas. The Tar Heels did an in-home visit with Bargas, which wrapped up around 10 p.m., right when he announced his commitment via Twitter.
“At the end of the day, I really just felt it was a great place for me to spend the next four years,” Bargas said. I get a chance to get a top-notch education and play football at one of the highest levels.”
One of the schools which attempted to make a somewhat late run at Bargas was the University of Michigan.
Bargas, who also plays basketball and lacrosse for the Scots, was committed to the Wolverines to play lacrosse before switching his primary sport during his junior year.
Bargas said Michigan did reach out to him but the interest wasn’t as strong when compared to North Carolina.
“I knew at the end of the day, I was going to UNC.”
Bargas, a Sun Sentinel first-team all-county selection in Palm Beach County, said he’ll continue to play basketball and lacrosse.
“I think it will be much easier,” Bargas said about his commitment. “I’m closing my recruiting at this point. I;m very satisfied with UNC.”
Admittedly, it is not an enviable place to be. Lakeland should not be expected to be in the same class as those at the top of the high-tech job food chain: for instance, Houston, home of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, ranked number one; Raleigh, N.C., (No. 3) home of the Piedmont Region’s Research Triangle, is located between three top universities; and Seattle (No. 6), home of futuristic thinkers at Microsoft and Amazon, is generally considered on the cutting edge of trends in this field. On the other hand, there is no glossing over Lakeland’s rating. This is not a sought-after place for skilled labor in high-tech jobs, based on WalletHub’s analysis. Still, Lakeland’s standing must be considered within the context of the overall list. Florida had five of the bottom 10, meaning four other communities trailed our area, with Miami-Fort Lauderdale bringing up the list’s absolute rear. Tampa ranked highest among Sunshine State STEM communities, in 60th place.
WalletHub’s researchers rated the nation’s 100 most populated metro areas according to 11 different metrics. Part of that included existing job openings per capita for STEM grads, the percentage of all the community’s workers in such occupations, the anticipated number of STEM Jobs needed by 2018 (although that was based on state-level data, and the unemployment rate for people with at least a bachelor’s degrees. But part of the rating also considered the community’s availability of recreational facilities and best areas for families. Suffice to say more than simple employment mattered, and in the lifestyle considerations, Florida fared much better.
That said, however, the rankings, and Lakeland’s place within it, should matter locally for a couple of reasons. For one thing, according to U.S. Department of Commerce projections, as cited by WalletHub, STEM professions will grow nearly twice as fast as non-STEM occupations between now and 2018. The researchers also point out that America will need roughly 1 million new STEM jobs to continue to fend off global competitors. And these are some of the best-paying jobs around. Relative to non-STEM positions, STEM jobs are “earning higher salaries and facing lower threats of unemployment.” The average salary for all STEM jobs in 2013 was $79,640, according to WalletHub’s report (here: http://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-metro-areas-for-stem-professionals/9200/), which was 71 percent above the national annual average salary for all jobs of $46,440.
The other concern is that Florida, with an economy built largely on tourism and agriculture, is often viewed as one of the last destinations in the country for STEM jobs — as evidenced by WalletHub’s study. And many of the state’s biggest metro areas continue to lag behind other regions across the country despite attempts to beef up STEM education.
But while the prospect of losing out on demanding, education-intensive but lucrative jobs might generate despair, it’s time to recognize opportunity. Gov. Rick Scott and other policy-makers in Tallahassee, as well as the leadership of the state’s business community, have recognized this shortcoming and are working to correct it. A year ago, the governor proposed $30 million for the current budget to fund workforce training in science and technology professions. In 2013, he suggested reducing tuition, and freezing it at that level, for students in STEM majors. Three years ago, Scott signed onto the plan hatched by former state Sen. J.D. Alexander of Lake Wales to create Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland, an institution devoted to STEM education. And in 2011, Workforce Florida and Enterprise Florida unveiled a five-year plan to boost STEM employment through an initiative called STEMflorida.
Lakeland is uniquely positioned to take advantage of Tallahassee’s emphasis on trying to put more high-tech into higher education. Promoting STEM careers, Scott once said, to the consternation of many, “You know, we don’t need a lot more anthropologists in the state. It’s a great degree if people want to get it, but we don’t need them here.” We disagree to some extent. A community can thrive with a balance of academic disciplines among its better educated residents.
Lakeland’s distinction is that it is a college-friendly town with a cornerstone already laid for one of the most flourishing fields in the economy. Let’s not mope about being 91st; rather, as the governor once put it, let’s get to work to move up the ladder.
CHARLESTON, South Carolina — The chorus calling for lawmakers and Gov. Nikki Haley to fix South Carolina’s roads got louder on Tuesday as tourism officials warned deteriorating roads are threatening the state’s $18 billion tourism industry.
The Coastal Chambers Alliance urged the General Assembly and Haley to come up with the money and a plan to fix South Carolina’s roads.
The alliance is comprised of nine chambers of commerce along the coast, the center of South Carolina’s tourism industry. Tourism provides almost 115,000 jobs and generates $1.6 billion in tax revenue, according to the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.
“From our perspective, if state government were a parent and the infrastructure system were a child, government agencies would have rushed in to put this child into foster care and labeled the parent negligent,” Brad Dean, president and CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, told The Associated Press.
The alliance said a majority of South Carolina’s 20 million visitors each year visit the coast which is also the state’s fastest-growing area for permanent residents.
On summer weekends, U.S. 501 is snarled for miles as visitors creep along trying to enter or leave Myrtle Beach. Dean said lengthy waits in traffic jams mean less time people can enjoy their vacation.
“The bigger issue is when your first impression and last impression of South Carolina is potholes and traffic jams, invariably some visitors will end up going elsewhere,” he said.
The Department of Transportation says it will need an extra $1.5 billion a year to get all state roads in good condition by 2040.
A nonprofit group, The Road Information Program, says almost half of the state’s major roads were in poor shape last year and such roads cost the average South Carolina motorist at least $1,100 extra a year. The figure represents the cost of maintenance for vehicles from pothole and road damage, extra fuel and the cost of fatal crashes.
“The current system is placing our coast and our state at a competitive disadvantage for both economic development and tourism,” Bryan Derreberry, president and CEO of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, said in a written statement.
South Carolina’s almost 17-cent-a-gallon gas tax has been unchanged for 30 years, the alliance said, noting that neighboring North Carolina and Georgia raise more money for highways. North Carolina’s gas tax is 39 cents a gallon while Georgia gas and use taxes amount to almost 27 cents a gallon.
Haley opposes raising the gas tax. She is expected to outline her road improvement plan in the coming weeks.
And Dean said raising the gas tax alone will not be enough, and the state will have to find other money.
“We have let ourselves fall so far behind that raising the gas tax is not a panacea,” he said.
He noted that noted Horry County, where Myrtle Beach is located, has invested $2 billion in roads over two decades largely through a local option sales tax, much of it paid by visitors.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Governor Pat McCrory and North Carolina Commerce Secretary John Skvarla along with the Economic Development Partnership of NC announced that White Labs, Inc. is opening a new facility in Buncombe County. The company plans to create 56 new jobs over the next three years and invest $8.1 million over the next five years in Buncombe County. NCTechNews is published by Innovative Public Relations, Inc.
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“White Labs is a leader in one of the fastest-growing industries in the country,” said Governor McCrory. “By locating its East Coast operations in Buncombe County, it is establishing North Carolina as a key location for other companies related to the craft beer and wine industries.”
White Labs Inc., based in San Diego, CA, was founded in 1995 and supplies breweries, wineries and distilleries with fresh yeast and related products, including analytical services.
The Buncombe County operation will be its first on the East Coast, and will manufacture yeast for alcoholic beverage production, conduct sales and marketing, beer production, on premise beer sales, classes and retail sales. In addition to San Diego, White Labs has operations in Davis, CA and Boulder, CO.
“Buncombe County is becoming known around the country for its craft beer industry,” said Secretary Skvarla. “North Carolina boasts the largest number of craft breweries in the South, with more than 100 breweries and brewpubs. It says a lot about the growth of the industry here that White Labs chose this part of North Carolina for its first East Coast operation.”
Salaries will vary by job but will include microbiologists, analytical services and brewing. The average annual salary will be $35,818. The average annual wage for Buncombe County is $35,784.
“At White Labs we are excited about being closer to our customer base in North Carolina and the East Coast, and having the opportunity to expand production to meet our industry’s growing needs,” said Chris White, president and CEO of White Labs. “We expect this facility to be our anchor for production needs east of the Mississippi and places beyond including Europe. The decision of where to locate our facility was difficult, and we made this decision based on the people we worked with, the city of Asheville, the great breweries in the area, and the quality of life we have witnessed.”
“Craft breweries have become a meaningful part of the tourism industry in Buncombe County,” said Senator Terry Van Duyn. “This announcement by White Labs will enhance what has become a growing business sector in our region.”
“These new jobs and this new facility are perfectly suited for Buncombe County,” said Senator Tom Apodaca. “White Labs is an industry leader, and they will find that coming to this part of North Carolina is an excellent decision.”
Members from the House chamber weighed in as well.
“It is always great to hear about new jobs coming to our region,” said Representative Susan Fisher. “These new jobs coupled with one of our area’s fastest-growing industries will be a great addition to our economy here.”
The project was made possible in part by a performance-based grant from the One North Carolina Fund of up to $40,000. The One NC Fund provides financial assistance, through local governments, to attract business projects that will stimulate economic activity and create new jobs in the state. Companies receive no money up front and must meet job creation and investment performance standards to qualify for grant funds. These grants also require and are contingent upon local matches.
In addition to the N.C. Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership, other partners that helped with this project include: N.C. Community Colleges, Asheville–Buncombe Technical Community College, Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County, Buncombe County and the City of Asheville.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WCNC) — A fiery crowd packed the Hickory Grove Library in east Charlotte Thursday night to voice their outrage against a program that allows sex offenders to move into a house in their neighborhood.
The half-way house sits at the 4000 block of McAlpine Lane in east Charlotte.
Residents found out about the experimental program late last year.
State and local representatives were on hand to answer questions about how this was allowed without their knowledge.
“How dare you put them people in our neighborhood! What is wrong with you? You are our elected officials, how did you let this happen? You should be ashamed,” said one woman.
Homeowners complained that the state had failed to thoroughly research how such a program would affect their neighborhood.
They say as many as six buses make their way to the nearby bus stop. The house is also is adjacent to a park frequented by children. There are six kids under 15 years of age living directly next door. Victoria Golbe says in all, 10 children live on her block.
Residents in a Charlotte, North Carolina neighborhood voice their outrage against a program that allows sex offenders to move in next door without their knowledge.
“Shut it down, we want it shut down we want it removed from our street. There are better roads to put this type of home on,” says Golbe.
One resident said her property value dropped $22,000 since December of last year.
A mother of two said her family had outgrown their home and needed more space, tearfully asked what can be done to sell her house.
“Our address is all over the news in Charlotte. I won’t be able to sell my house and I’m afraid I’ll be stuck up the road in a situation I’m not comfortable with. Is there any remediation for people who want to leave?” she asked.
Residents say they were blindsided, and never told the yellow house at the end of a cul-de-sac would be would house six sex offenders at a time.
An employee with the State Department of Safety says the convicted sex offenders are sent there as a ‘last resort,’ when options have been exhausted to find housing.
Since homeless shelters have stopped allowing sex offenders in, the state says the problem has been magnified.
“We struggled for years now trying to find adequate housing for sex offenders. This is a program, an initiative we are trying. Obviously this has not settled well with this neighborhood and it may be something we have to look at,” said Supervisor Tracey Lee with the State Department of Public Safety.
Sex offenders are required to register, but the state is not obligated to inform residents when they take part in a housing program such as this.
“It’s my understanding that it was left up to the vendor to do that notification,” said Lee.
The state selected, Bradley Reid Corporation, which runs housing programs for homeless veterans through a bidding process.
The group runs one of two Second Chance transition programs in the state. The other home is in Wilmington.
The state says Bradley Reid met all the necessary requirement, and has a one-year contract which can be renewed for another year.
For now, the state does not plan to shut the house down.
State Representative Rodney Moore plans to visit the neighborhood next week. He says existing laws may need to be revised to make sure this does not happen again.
