The Moore County Commissioners heard a proposal to increase the hotel occupancy tax at its Feb. 18 agenda meeting.
On March 18, the board will host a public hearing on an additional 3% occupancy tax for overnight stays in Moore County, but the board may approve the additional percentage from 1% to 3%.
The Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) President and CEO Phil Werz said they fund tourism development.
“I would like to see this go to 6% (max occupancy tax)… We’ve grown to become the 10th highest tourism economy in the state of North Carolina,” Werz said about destination travel being in demand and the need for more things to do besides golf.
“When I got here, we had $520 million in visitor spending…In 2023, it was $805 million, so that doesn’t even take into account the 2024 year, which we’ll get that report in August, but it will probably be over $900 million,” Werz said about tourism dollars funding $821,000 in grants for projects.
In other business, the board approved a conditional rezoning request from rural to rural agriculture to expand Arthur and Jan Williams’ mining quarry near Eagle Springs.
While it seems a mining quarry selling topsoil, clay, and sand is not what most people think about when they think of farming, in this case, it is part of a design to preserve a family farm.
The Williams own Kalawi Farm in Eagle Springs, featuring Ben’s Ice Cream, with the popular peach ice cream as the main attraction. In a phone call with Sandhills Sentinel, Jan Williams said Ben’s Ice Cream was their love child.
The name Kalawi was derived from the names of their first three children, Katie, Laura, and Will.
“The sandpit is integral in keeping the [618 acre] farm,” Arthur Williams said about the quarry expansion to fund the future and added that he was planting five more acres of peaches next week.
The quarry will be renovated back to agriculture after it is mined with pine trees, agriculture, or a lake.
“It is in the RA zoning district; the surrounding areas are single-family residential and woodland. They do have a current mining permit from DEQ…They’re not crossing any streams,” Planning Director Debra Ensminger said in the meeting.
The quarry will be completed in phases, have a privacy berm, and will not have any blasting.
In addition, the board approved conditional rezoning from rural agriculture to neighborhood business of 2.382 acres for a self-service mini-warehouse.
“She bought this parcel many years ago, and many parcels in that area will not perk. So, she’s trying to find or use of the parcel. She has done her homework, and there is a waiting list of self-storage facilities within this area,” Ensminger said about the owner of the 1280 Leaman Road property.
The board also approved a $156,316 state grant application for The RISE Moore Buddies Mentoring program.
Executive Director of the CARE Group Joyce Clevenger said the staff mentoring are behavior specialists who have experienced the same types of traumas as the at-risk youth aged 10-21 and therefore have instant credibility.
Of the clients served, 72% returned to the judicial system.
Commissioners hold their next meeting on Mar. 4 at 10:30 a.m. at the old Carthage courthouse.
Feature photo: Carolina Hotel in Pinehurst. Photo by Sandhills Sentinel photographer Melissa Schaub.
~Written by Sandhills Sentinel journalist Stephanie M. Sellers. Stephanie is also an English instructor at Central Carolina Community College. She is the author of young adult fiction, including When the Yellow Slugs Sing and Sky’s River Stone, and a suspense, GUTTERSNIPE: Shakespearean English Stage Play with Translation, and a new upcoming release published by Golden Storyline Books, a science fiction, Amagi.
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