PEMBROKE — The Pembroke Town Council gave its approval for the construction of duplexes that had been stalled for months.

After having tabled the issue for about six months, council members approved a motion that cleared the way for the construction of four duplexes on Deese Road. The units will be intended for students at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Siblings Allyson and Cory Lowry approached the board in the summer of 2017 and asked it to amend a land-use permit from single residential to multi-family residential to allow the construction.

“It meets all of the requirements to be rezoned,” Town Manager Tyler Thomas said.

In a previous meeting UNCP General Counsel Joshua Malcolm expressed concerns about the university not having knowledge of the land or the project. Since then, the university has surveyed the area.

“The university has no opposition to the property,” Malcolm said.

The council also approved a land-use permit amendment that would allow a welcome center to be built within a commercial district near the Lumbee Tribal Housing Complex.

Tribal Chairman Harvey Godwin Jr. said the tribe hopes to build the welcome center within the next 18 months, but needed the zoning change before seeking partners and funding.

He hopes to add a restaurant and to display local produce, information about UNCP and tribal paraphernalia at the center.

“Just by having this store, we’ll have all of our local farmers selling there stuff year-round,” Godwin said.

Council members also approved a building reuse grant resolution that allows the construction of a Beans Gone Wild coffee shop in a vacant building at 205 Union Chapel Road.

Beans Gone Wild, which is a family owned coffee shop and lounge, has a location in Raeford. The business serves hot coffee, espresso, cold frappuccino, tea, sandwiches, muffins, and bagels.

The shop also will offer live entertainment, including spoken word, poetry night, karaoke, Paint n Sip and onstage performances by local talent.

In other business, Thomas Perdue, of MacConnell & Associates, presented his findings from a study of drainage problems along three corridors in Pembroke. It was determined that some of the issues were caused by overgrown vegetation in ditches, structural problems and high flood levels near Bear Swamp.

The company, an engineering and consulting company that offers specific expertise in the areas of environmental, civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, and instrumentation engineering, also employed land surveyors.

“We found out that this area is very flat,” Perdue said.

Thomas said areas east to the university and along Prospect Road are most affected by flooding. The town and the university have teamed up on the project that will fix short-term flood problems.

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By Tomeka Sinclair

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Tomeka Sinclair can be reached at 910-416-5865 or [email protected].