HOPE MILLS — Hope Mills, a town with a population of nearly 18,000, will soon see an updated approach to land use planning.
At their regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, Hope Mills commissioners heard a presentation from Cumberland County’s Planning and Inspections Department. Sarahgrace Mitchell, a county land use planner, informed the board that the department has initiated the process of updating the land use plan for the area.
“Land use planning is a long-range planning tool used by town and county officials as a reference for future land use decisions. It is a thorough document that includes existing conditions, goals, objectives and policy recommendations,” Mitchell explained to the board.
“It is a living, actionable document that allows us to make recommendations on rezoning cases and the vision we want to see for the area,” she added.
Mitchell also informed commissioners that the plan, which covers 25,400 acres and roughly 23,000 individual tax parcels, was previously named the Southwest Cumberland Plan Area but will now be called the Hope Mills Area Land Use Plan.
Board wants public input for Land Use Plan
During the presentation, Mitchell announced a public input meeting scheduled for Oct. 28 at the Hope Mills Parks and Recreation building on Rockfish Road from noon to 7 p.m. The goal, Mitchell said, is to gather feedback from community members and share ideas on how best to shape the plan. Her department is required to complete one land use plan per year, she said.
Mitchell stated that property owners will receive a postcard with details of the meeting within two weeks of the meeting date. She also emphasized the importance of sharing the information with non-property owners who live and shop in Hope Mills, such as apartment residents.
Mayor Jessie Bellflowers asked Mitchell if she would attend the town’s Chamber of Commerce events to distribute postcards to local business owners.
“Their feedback is highly valuable,” Bellflowers said.
The town’s Appearance Commission also proposed a beautification project to transform electrical boxes downtown. Hope Mills commissioners voted unanimously to move forward with the project, which will cover each electrical box with artwork to enhance the area and promote the arts in downtown.
Public hearings
During the public hearing portion of the meeting, the board reviewed three cases: one annexation, one rezoning and one amendment to the town’s zoning ordinance.
While the initial rezoning case was rescheduled for Oct. 6, the board unanimously approved the annexation of around 15 acres located 200 feet east of the intersection of Town Center Drive and Rockfish Road, belonging to Palmer Williams, Sycamore Corner LLC, SRW Builders LLC and Williams Tiber LLC.
The board also unanimously approved an amendment to the town’s zoning ordinance. According to the agenda, the purpose of the amendment was to update sections of the zoning ordinance to “ensure clarity, consistency and alignment with the town’s evolving needs and planning objectives.”
Paying for patrol car leases
Under new business, the board voted unanimously to approve a budget amendment in the amount of $1,364,700 to comply with a Governmental Accounting Standards Board policy.
GASB Statement 87 “overhauls the accounting and financial reporting of leases for state and local governments” through a singular model for lease accounting, according to the North Carolina Office of the State Controller.
The Office of the State Controller said the goal of the standard is to ensure greater consistency in accounting and lease reporting by mandating governments’ recognition of lease assets and liabilities for leases, including capital leases and operating leases. While the policy was originally going to go into effect in 2021, it was delayed to begin in the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2022.
“It’s a new ruling, and we had that started last year. Any new lease that the town has that is material, which is our vehicle leases, we have to record as debt. So we don’t book them as debt when we do the budget, we book them as an expense. But then at the end of the year, we have total everything up for that entire year, we may have to do a budget amendment showing this debt … switching it from a lease expense to a debt payment,” the town’s Finance Director Drew Holland explained.
Holland also clarified that the price includes all the town’s leased vehicles. He told the board that the amount was significant because the town had doubled the police fleet. Holland told CityView that the transfer of expense to debt could only be accomplished after the last fiscal budget was approved, which is why it has been applied to the previous year’s budget. “We have to show the future lease payments or debt that’s owed,” Holland said.
Also under new business, the board unanimously approved a budget amendment in the amount of $660,000 to be transferred to the town’s general fund. According to the agenda form from Holland to Town Manager Chancer McLaughlin, the fiscal year 2026 budget includes an operating transfer of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act Project Fund for $660,000. Of this, $203,350 will come from the senior recreation center line item, and $456,650 will come from the tennis-pickleball courts line item, totaling $660,000 as approved in the 2026 budget.
Lastly, the board held a closed session to discuss land acquisition. After the closed session, the board voted to seal the minutes.
In the closing minutes of the meeting, Hope Mills Police Chief Stephen Dollinger announced that the new safety building will now be open 24 hours a day. This change follows the approval of the new fiscal budget, which includes funding for additional officers on call and modifications to the building to allow officers to remain on duty past 5:30 p.m.
The board will not hold its regularly scheduled meeting in early September due to the Labor Day holiday. The next board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 15 at Town Hall.
