SALISBURY – After almost a decade of planning, the residents of Harbor Pointe have moved one step closer to receiving a sidewalk.

The Salisbury City Council held a public hearing this week and first reading of an ordinance establishing the Harbor Pointe Planned Residential District as a special assessment district for the purpose of financing the cost of a sidewalk by assessing each lot owner. The sidewalk will be installed on Harbor Pointe Drive from Pemberton Drive to Anchors Way.

As the council voted unanimously, with Councilwomen Deborah Campbell and Laura Mitchell absent, to approve the ordinance in first reading, a special assessment district is one step closer to being established on the east side of Pemberton Drive, including all lots within the Harbor Pointe Planned Residential District.

The sidewalk has been designed by the Public Works Department to be five feet wide and extend 1,400 feet in length. The project has been estimated to cost $46,700.

“The residents of Harbor Pointe have indicated their willingness to share the cost of this project with the city,” City Administrator John Pick said when the ordinance was first introduced as a resolution. “The proposal we have been working on for several years is the city would pay one half of the cost and the property owners pay the other half, and the property owners would be assessed over a five-year period of time.”  

Harbor Pointe residents’ share of the cost will be $23,375 to be equally assessed on each of the 207 lots in the Harbor Pointe Planned Residential District. The assessment will be collected from each lot owner in equal installments of $22.58 for a period of five years for a total of $112.92 per lot.

“We really appreciate you guys moving forward with this project. We hope for it to reach second reading and push through so we can get our sidewalk,” Harbor Pointe Community Association President Kurt Dreschler said.

“We have discussed this thoroughly at various work sessions about the financing mechanisms and the steps of the process because it does have a lot of steps to putting this type of thing together,” Council President Terry Cohen said.