Council hears roadside-beautification plan; asks for signage costs and volunteer outreach
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Summary
Staff reviewed existing NCDOT and city roadside programs and proposed low-cost ideas (marketing adopt-a-street, employee volunteer incentives) and longer-term options (gateway signage, nonresidential maintenance code). Council directed staff to return with signage cost estimates and to pursue marketing and volunteer programs.
City staff outlined the city's current roadside-beautification efforts, identified gaps and recommended low-cost measures and longer-term options.
Jeff Wells (speaker 6) summarized existing programs including NCDOT's Adopt-a-Highway, the city's limited Adopt-a-Street program (four active adoptions covering six streets), downtown trash pickup contracts and street-sweeping schedules. He noted the city's minimum-housing program has produced 132 cases since 1992 with a mix of owner compliance and demolitions.
Wells recommended growing volunteer participation through marketing, creating an employee-volunteer incentive (for example, PTO or other perks), and pursuing phased gateway-signage installations as the budget allows. He said some larger measures (nonresidential maintenance code, demolition-by-neglect enforcement) would require deeper policy and funding discussion and proposed to bring that topic to the January council meeting.
Council members supported marketing existing volunteer programs and asked staff to provide pricing for gateway-signage options and possible private funding or sponsorship approaches. Council moved and approved direction to pursue the "low hanging fruit" items (marketing, Adopt-a-Street expansion, employee volunteer program) and asked for signage costs to be returned for future consideration.
