The Elizabethtown Town Council at its May meeting will again tackle the issue of downtown development.

At the request of two local attorneys, the board agreed to reconsider a plan that would have limited some uses downtown, and helped preserve the character of the business and residential districts.

The action came at a workshop meeting on the N.C. 87 Bypass Corridor April 19. When all commissioners are present, and they vote unanimously to discuss other topics, the board can legally discuss and vote on items not on the posted agenda for the meeting.

The board did not vote on the overlay district April 19.

Attorney Goldston Womble, who recently completed a major renovation of the McCullough House on Broad Street, re-quested that the board re-consider the overlay issue.

Womble, who is the town's attorney, said he was speaking as a "local business owner," and not in his official capacity. Womble told the board that attorney Leslie Johnson, whose office in the 300 block of West Broad, was also anxious to see the overlay district approved. Johnson also recently com-pleted a major building improvement project.

"I'd hate to see my investment ruined because there was no control over what businesses went where," Womble said. "The appearance and problems of street-front parking would take away much of what is left of the appearance of our downtown area."

Although he is a lifelong resident of White Lake, Wom-ble said Elizabethtown has "always felt like my hometown."

"I remember what the downtown area used to look like," he said. "People used to talk about how pretty it was."

The issue was brought to a vote last year after a contentious public hearing in January 2003. The issue was tabled, and never voted on by the board.

The Broad Street Historic District Overlay plan enc-ourages residential and pro-fessional development, and dissuades the establishment of stores or businesses with high volumes of vehicle traffic.

Most industrial uses are also forbidden under the original proposal.

"Right now you could put an oil refinery and a steel mill right downtown," Town Manager David Smitherman said at the time. "It would be legal."

Parking is generally restricted to the side or rear of a business, not the street front. Multi-use structures, such as buildings with stores downstairs and apa-rtments or offices upstairs, are encouraged.

Commissioners are expected to vote on the issue at the May 3 regular board meeting.

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