LUMBERTON — Demolition of the former Ramada Inn building on Kahn Drive could begin the week of Jan. 25, Lumberton City Council learned Wednesday.

Asbestos removal has been completed, and the rooms are cleared, with furniture pushed to the center, Public Works Director Rob Armstrong told council members during their regular meeting in City Hall. Public Works is fixing a couple of sewer cave-ins at the site and will then be ready to begin demolition. The department will demolish to building and haul debris to the landfill.

“That will take quite some time to tear down the structure,” Armstrong said. “Hauling it off will be quite the task, too. But we hope to start Jan. 25.”

The former hotel, visible from Interstate 95 and Roberts Avenue, has been abandoned since it was flooded during Hurricane Matthew in 2016. It was condemned in September 2020.

Council members discussed and debated for nearly an hour Wednesday before deciding to vote next week on whether or not to approve a rezoning request and to grant a conditional use permit for a proposed solar farm on Lovette Road.

Further discussion and votes on the requests will take place during a special called meeting.

Chickenfoot Solar, LLC is requesting that 30 acres of land in South Lumberton be rezoned from agricultural and residential to manufacturing for the purpose of building a solar farm on the property.

Attorney Mike Fox spoke to Council on behalf of Chickenfoot Solar during a public hearing on the requests. The attorney detailed why he believes the requests should be approved.

“There will not be a negative impact on nearby properties,” Fox said. “This is typically where you find solar farms — not downtown, not a really rural area … But you typically find them at the edge of town.”

The solar farm would have little to no impact on water runoff because a solar farm has few impervious surfaces, with grass planted underneath and around the solar panels, he said.

Energy created from the solar farm would go into Duke Energy’s Lumberton substation, said Christy Winer, project manager.

Chris Sandifer, an engineer, spoke about how minimally the project would impact nearby residents. Rich Kirkland, an appraiser, said property values would not be affected.

Councilman Chris Howard raised questions about why the particular location was chosen.

“It’s not triggered by socioeconomic status or housing projects or anything else,” Kirkland said. “It’s just the characteristics of the property.”

The one-week delay in voting on the requests is a result of rules imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Public comments are allowed to be submitted in writing, and can be accepted up to 24 hours after the public hearing. Because Council cannot vote until after the comment period has expired, council members agreed to meet at 11 a.m. Jan. 20 to take up the requests.

For the same reason, an annexation request by CMH Home Inc. for property on North Highway 41 was tabled until next week’s meeting after a brief public hearing.

In other business, Council gave the OK for two rezoning requests from Lumberton Housing Authority to go before the Planning Board. One is for land on Martin Luther King Drive that the Authority plans to use for office space. The other is for the proposed construction of a multi-family development on Caton Road.

In other business, the council:

— Approved the retirement and sale of police canine Spike. He will be bought by his handler, Lt. Joseph Cain, for $1.

— Approved five change orders on the Rempac project, which is funded by Community Development Block Grant money. The change orders, of which some were additions and some were deletions to the original grant, have a net increase of $3,231.

— Approved the bid from Thomas & Hutton for work on the Tanglewood drainage project, at a cost of $62,825, paid for by a previously received grant through the U.S. Economic Development Agency.

— Approved an $80,000 grant agreement with the Cannon Foundation. The money will be used to close the funding gap for construction of a Civic Center annex.

— Approved the purchase of a scale computing cluster from SHI for $71,803.80.

— Approved the grant agreement for funds for the proposed park on the former Scottish Packing Co. land on Kinlaw Street, recently acquired by the city partially by purchase and partially by donation.

— Approved annexation requests by Joseph and Shelby Hodge for property on Arbor Lane, and Michael and Barbara Walters for property on Harrill Road.

— Approved a rezoning request by Britt & Hammonds Investment Properties, LLC, for property on Old Whiteville Road.

— Approved sending to the Planning Board a rezoning request by Fred G. Mills for two parcels on Harrill Road.

— Allocated $5,400 in Community Revitalization Funds for North Carolina Baptists on Missions, to assist in the cost of paving their parking lot; $4,875 in CRF for Lumberton High School athletics, to assist in the cost of renovating the softball field’s dugouts; $500 for the Mayfair Homeowners Association to enhance the development’s entrance signage; and $225 for the installation of Community Watch signs in Precinct 1.

— Ratified $1,550 in CRF for Borderbelt Aids Resources Team, $700 for First Baptist Church and $500 for Rowland Norment Elementary School. These funds were tentatively approved through a telephone poll in December and ratified Wednesday because Council did not meet in December and the money was needed for timely projects.

— Ratified the council’s approval of buying, along with the county, land at the proposed industrial park that is not purchased within five years, and the acceptance of a rural grant agreement for the industrial park. These items also had been tentatively approved in a telephone poll of council members in December, and were officially ratified Wednesday.