Hendersonville City Council members and three city officials likely will be added to a list of persons exempt from an ordinance that bans carrying concealed weapons on city-owned property.
Council members voted 3-2 in favor of the measure on first reading at last month’s council meeting, and are expected to do so again when the proposed ordinance comes up for a final vote during today’s 6:30 p.m. council meeting at City Hall.
It appears unlikely that either Councilmen Ron Stephens, Jeff Miller or Steve Caraker will change their yes votes, given the strong support they consistently have expressed.
If passed, the ordinance will place council members, the city manager, city attorney and city clerk on an exemption list that already includes on-duty members of the military, civil officers such as U.S. marshals, on-duty National Guard members, sworn law enforcement officers and county animal control officers who are performing their duties.
Also tonight, the council will decide whether to spend $27,000 on a proposed marketing study aimed at helping the city find a developer willing to enter into a public/private partnership that would result in a hotel and parking ramp being built on a 1.5-acre site that is now the Dogwood parking lot, situated along Church Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues.
City officials are looking to work out an arrangement that would include a privately owned hotel with at least 100 rooms, retail space and a conference center. Details about including a public/private parking deck — which would double the lot’s 153 spaces – still need to be worked out, city officials say.
The Henderson County Tourism Development Authority already has pledged $25,000 toward the $52,000 cost for the study, which would be conducted through the University of North Carolina School of Government’s Development Finance Initiative.
Other items on tonight’s agenda include:
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