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September 29, 2005

Davidson development moves forward despite concerns

I should have posted this story yesterday on the Planning and Zoning Commission's meeting. My bad.

Posted by Amy Dominello at 10:35 AM | Comments (4)

September 26, 2005

Houses, houses, more houses

Amy Dominello has a story today about two new developments the High Point Planning and Zoning Commission will be considering tomorrow.

One would bring 247 town houses and condos to Davidson County off Westover Drive. It's near the Laurel Oak Ranch neighborhood.

The other would include up to 136 town houses and some offices on Eastchester near Lake Forest Drive.

The meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept. 27) at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers

Posted by Jonathan Jones at 1:14 PM | Comments (0)

No hauntings around here

In case you missed it in Saturday's paper -- sorry, I wasn't in to update on the weekend -- the owner of Castle McCulloch has decided not to have the big Halloween production that was announced earlier this summer. Justin had mentioned it on the blog a few months back.

My story about it apparently didn't make the web. So I'll put it down below.

JAMESTOWN — Castle McCulloch won’t be ghastly this fall.
Plans to turn the popular wedding venue into a haunted attraction during the last two weeks of October have been scaled back.
Owner Richard Harris said time constraints and marketing problems will prevent him from converting the castle into a full-fledged fright scene.
Instead, the last weekend in October, the castle will host a scary trail with acts by the Community Theatre of Greensboro during daylight hours. The program will be appropriate for children under 12, Harris said Friday.
“We’re not going to have the major haunted attraction,” Harris said. “I hate to disappoint my fans.”
Harris was working with Spookywoods in High Point and Woods of Terror in Greensboro to offer package deals that would have let people buy passes for two or three of the haunted attractions.
“He just didn’t give himself enough time to plan,” Spookywoods founder Tony Wohlgemuth said.
Woods of Terror and Spookywoods are still offering $34 “Haunted Hopper” passes that allow people to get into both haunted attractions. But he’s disappointed Castle McCulloch won’t be part of the deal, Wohlgemuth said.
Harris said he thought they could have pulled the show off but was worried about it not being the high-quality event he has envisioned for more than a decade.
“For about 10 years I had designed in my mind some unusual attractions, some things I don’t think you’d find anywhere else,” Harris said.
“It just wasn’t coming together.”
To put on the haunted castle, Harris had to clear out two of his busiest weekends for weddings.
With the cancellation of the Halloween event, he has been able to get one of those wedding weekends back, he said.
Harris hasn’t decided whether to try again next year. It makes financial sense to stick with weddings. But he’s always wanted to try a little haunting for Halloween.

Posted by Jonathan Jones at 1:05 PM | Comments (0)

September 21, 2005

Jamestown Council roundup

So the Jamestown Council had a pretty quiet meeting last night (including a nice recognition of the state champion Ragsdale High School women's soccer team).

But I thought I'd give those who are interested a quick run-down of the meeting highlights since it wasn't enough to make the paper.

Council approved a $50,000 budget amendment. It was just a housekeeping item to move a grant that Guilford County gave the library to the library. The money brings the library's budget for next year up to $105,550, Board of Trustees Chairwoman Dot Perdue said earlier in the week. The town contributes $50,000, which is divided between building maintenance and operations, and the state chips in the $5,550 worth of credit to add to the collection. That should keep things running smoothly for the next year.

The town's annual litter pick-up will be 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Oct. 1 and folks who are interested in helping can swing by the Food Lion parking lot that morning to join in.

And last but not least, the October meeting will be moved to the newly renovated auditorium at the Jamestown Public Library.

Posted by Jonathan Jones at 5:47 PM | Comments (0)

Homes may not qualify for soundproofing

Since the North High Point/Jamestown blog is back in business, I'll add my story from today.

HIGH POINT - All the homes in north High Point's only community that could receive soundproofing to reduce noise from the FedEx overnight hub may not be eligible, a city official said Tuesday.

Depending on the path the FedEx planes take, some or all of the 57 homes in Frazier Downs may hear enough noise to be eligible under the Federal Aviation Administration’s guidelines, High Point Planning Director Lee Burnette said as he briefed City Council members on a Piedmont Triad International Airport study.

The study is looking at ways to reduce noise when planes begin flying out of the hub in 2009.

FedEx hopes to have 63 takeoffs and 63 landings each weekday night at PTI by 2014. Most of the flights are expected to go over north High Point’s residential neighborhoods.

Changes could be made to the departure corridors as part of the study.

High Point will likely ask that the planes be turned slightly as they take off to avoid some of the noise.

Once the exact path of the planes is determined, some homes in the noisiest areas may not be eligible for soundproofing because of when they were built, Burnette said.

The consultant doing the study for PTI has said that would encompass homes built after the FAA officially approved the construction of the hub, and that was on Dec. 31, 2001.

Contact Amy Dominello at 883-4422, Ext. 248, or adominello@news-record.com

Posted by Amy Dominello at 1:44 PM | Comments (0)

September 20, 2005

Please allow me to introduce myself ...

Hello North High Point!

Yes, the North High Point & Jamestown blog is alive again. I'm the News & Record's new reporter covering that area, and that means I get to participate in this blog explosion going on here in the Triad.

I'm excited to be here and hopefully will give folks a reason to stop by.

So here's a little bit about me: I'm coming from The News Leader in Staunton, Va. where I worked for 15 months covering the city of Waynesboro. Before Staunton I was the South Carroll reporter at the Carroll County Times, which is a lil' sis of the News & Record.

Coming here is sort of a homecoming. I've never lived in the Triad but my family is from Greensboro and I've been coming here my whole life to visit.

Well that's probably enough for now. I look forward to hearing from ya ...

Posted by Jonathan Jones at 1:46 PM | Comments (22)