Bethel Church Road

July 17. By Dave Vieser. The Cornelius Town Board is asking the NC Dept. of Transportation (NCDOT) to reduce the 45 mph speed limit on Bethel Church Road, between West Catawba and Staghorn at the end.

The request will be reviewed and analyzed by the NCDOT.

The town has actually received several requests to lower the speed limit since Bethel Church is primarily a residential street, according to Tyler Beardsley, assistant town manager. It is also “heavily used” by pedestrians and cyclists, he said.

At Monday night’s meeting, members of the town board did not specify what speed limit should be adopted in place of the 45 mph limit. The NCDOT review should take approximately three months.

In other action, the commissioners:

—Amended town regulations regarding membership on boards and commissions, to read as follows: No member having served on the elected Board of Commissioners may be eligible for appointment until there has been a one-year lapse in service from the elected Board of Commissioners. As an example of how this change could impact board membership, if such a regulation was already in effect, former commissioner Colin Furcht would not have been eligible to join the Planning Board this year, having lost re-election this past November,.

—Accepted approximately 20 streets in the Antiquity section of Cornelius for maintenance. These streets were maintained by private contractors for more than 10 years until the town recently agreed to take over maintenance responsibility.

—Ratified a list of park improvement projects to be included in a $20 million bond referendum which will be on the ballot this November in Cornelius.