Vacancy up for new hotel

Havelock lit up the vacancy sign for a new hotel near the tourist center Monday night.

A Holiday Inn Express can be built behind the Ham's Restaurant under construction on Tourist Center Drive after city commissioners gave an 11,280 gallon-per-day sewer allocation to the project.

Real estate developer Donald Lawrence requested the wastewater allocation on behalf of Baby Appa, LLC, a corporation registered to John W. King Jr. with offices in New Bern and Washington, N.C.

The hotel would employ about 15 people, and Planning Director Scott Chase estimated that the business would generate $25,000 in tax revenue for the city each year.

Commissioners suggested revisions to preliminary site plans, but Mayor Jimmy Sanders stressed that the project was in its early stages.

"They're here tonight because they have to come here tonight, and they can't go any further until they have 11,200 gallons," he said Monday.

The property on Tourist Center Drive is zoned Highway Commercial, which has a maximum building height of 50 feet, Chase said.

Before the new allocation was approved, Chase presented a report on Havelock's available wastewater - among the city's scarcest commodities and a perpetual concern for commissioners.

Havelock had an available 187,585 gallons per day of sewer capacity out of 1.7 million gallons per day, which is about 80 percent of the city's 1.9 million permitted discharge.

Figures on available capacity are based on obligated wastewater allocations, not actual sewer flow. Havelock's annual average was 1.341 million gallons per day as of this month.

"It is a moving target, but we've got a pretty good control over it," Chase said.

The city could pick up a half-acre lot adjacent to the Havelock Tourist and Event Center if an agreement with developer Jerry Jackson is reached.

Commissioners met in closed session for nearly two hours Monday to discuss the proposed land donation. The board returned to open session at 11:15 p.m. and voted to direct the city manager to execute an agreement with the developer.

Terms of the agreement weren't known Monday. Jackson said the land in question is 0.56 acres.

In other business Monday evening:

• City Manager Jim Freeman reported that Havelock and New Bern officials have set a tentative meeting for May 12 to discuss a sewer service area proposal that could give Havelock an extra 500,000 gallons of permitted sewer discharge per day. The wastewater would be pumped to New Bern's treatment plant under the proposal.

"We believe that it's financially feasible," Freeman said. "It still looks like a doable project."

• Commissioners approved Phase 3 of the Branchside subdivision near Tourist Center Drive as recommended by the Havelock Planning Board.

• Commissioner Danny Walsh was reappointed to a three-year term on the Craven County Tourism Development Authority board.

• The Craven County Water Conservation Steering Committee presented a water conservation plan that would reduce water use by 25 percent over the next three years. Havelock commissioners were not asked to adopt the plan immediately.

• City leaders scheduled a budget workshop for 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday at Havelock City Hall. Budget meetings also are planned for May 7, 12 and 14 and are open to the public.