The Vance County Board of Commissioners will be asked tonight to approve a contract for digital mapping of the county as part of the move to countywide zoning.
Senior planner Ken Krulik, who is heading Vance’s zoning efforts, needed only two weeks to complete the $186,000 agreement with Cadastra, based in Glen Allen, Va. The contractor will create a “consistent, unified, digital parcel map file” that will be used by a variety of city and county agencies. The digital map, compliant with the Geographic Interface Systems standard, will allow agencies to track exact property lines, overlay aerial photography with those boundaries, and call up ownership, zoning, tax and other data with the click of a computer mouse.
The lack of such GIS mapping has limited the aid the state Division of Community Assistance can provide to Henderson’s housing task force, for example, and has prevented DCA planners from working on an update of the city’s 3-decade-old land-use plan. (For an example of what the digital mapping system offers, try playing around with the search features on the )
Krulik explained to the commissioners July 11 that two processes can be used to create the digital maps. One is more accurate but more expensive, and Krulik advised the board that a mix of the two methods would likely serve Vance best. The contract with Cadastra calls for such a mix, with 26,000 parcels costing $5.25 each and 11,000 costing $4.50 each.
The advisory schedule for the project calls for a pilot of 1,000 parcels to be completed by the end of October and for the full project to be done by June 9, although Cadastra commits only to make a good-faith effort to complete the work within a year.
Cadastra was not Krulik’s first choice for the project, but the commissioners preferred it over three other firms that responded to a request for qualifications because Cadastra’s estimated price was the lowest. As Krulik warned the board was possible, the final price is higher — about $50,000 higher — than Cadastra’s initial estimate. RFQs, unlike requests for proposals (RFPs), don’t tie contractors to detailed requirements for a project, so price estimates can vary widely and are not meant to be the decisive factor in picking a firm with which to negotiate.
The Board of Commissioners has the option of rejecting the Cadastra contract and moving to one of the other contractors that responded to the RFQ. If the commissioners take that step, Cadastra will be out of the running for the project.
In addition to the mapping project, Krulik has two other items to bring before the board tonight:
* The latest 50-page draft of the zoning ordinance, with a detailed map of the proposed zoning for the U.S. 1 corridor south of Henderson to the Tar River.
* A set of proposed amendments to county’s litter control ordinance. The changes include replacing “environmental manager,” a post the county has kept vacant for years, with “environmental officer,” which by definition could be any county employee authorized to write criminal or civil citations. That enforcement officer would now be authorized to enforce the ordinance with civil penalties or criminal penalties, but not both at the same time. The table of civil fines ranges from $25 for an accidental first offense that poses no environmental hazard to $500 plus cleanup costs for a repeat willful commercial offense deemed to be an environmental hazard. Under a recent state Supreme Court ruling, it’s possible that such civil penalties would benefit the school system rather than the county’s general fund.
Krulik is the only person with a scheduled appointment before the commissioners tonight. His presentation is to be followed by a public comment period, which will become a regular feature of the monthly board meetings under a policy the commissioners will consider later in the meeting. That policy comes in response to a state law.
Among the items County Manager Jerry Ayscue will bring before the board is a recommendation to approve a tax break for ETC, as proposed last month by the Economic Development Commission.
EDC Chairman Sam Watkins and Executive Director Benny Finch all but promised the tax relief to the cleaning supplies manufacturer in return for its decision to stay in Henderson and expand beyond what existed before a devastating fire in 2003.
The commissioners’ General Government Committee reduced the proposed grant to $45,680.12 from the $56,715 sought by Finch and Watkins. That change reflected Ayscue’s insistence on figuring the depreciation of equipment into the computations.
If ETC pays its county taxes as required, it will receive annual payments not to exceed $11,334 in the current fiscal year, $10,020.12 in 2006-07, $9,255 in 2007-08, $8,109 in 2008-09 and $6,962 in 2009-10.
The commissioners meet at 6 p.m. at the old courthouse on Young Street.