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The front outside part of this residence at 620 Short Spoon Circle became a subject of discussion during Monday’s City Council meeting.

David Hill addresses the City Council on Monday about his concerns about 620 Short Spoon Circle.

The front outside part of this residence at 620 Short Spoon Circle became a subject of discussion during Monday’s City Council meeting.

The front outside part of this residence at 620 Short Spoon Circle became a subject of discussion during Monday's City Council meeting.

The front outside part of this residence at 620 Short Spoon Circle became a subject of discussion during Monday’s City Council meeting.

David Hill addresses the City Council on Monday about his concerns about 620 Short Spoon Circle.

The front outside part of this residence at 620 Short Spoon Circle became a subject of discussion during Monday’s City Council meeting.

The front outside part of this residence at 620 Short Spoon Circle became a subject of discussion during Monday's City Council meeting.

A resident of the Northgreen area in the northwestern part of the city on Monday night implored the City Council to take action in response to what he said is a residence that appears to have been turned into an automotive repair shop.

“Please gentlemen, help us out,” David Hill told the council in referring to 620 Short Spoon Circle. “We want this to be a great city where everybody will come visit and live.”

Hill spoke of anywhere from eight to 10 cars at that location, an engine in the front yard and oil running down the driveway.

Hill, who relocated to Rocky Mount from Baltimore in 2011, said he and many of the residents along Short Spoon have complained about 620 Short Spoon.

He said that five Wednesdays ago there were vehicles all over the place, with two vehicles blocking the street on one side, and that he returned to his home and phoned the police department.

Hill said that a lady answered, that he told her the problem and that she said, “OK, we’ll send somebody out there.”

And Hill said, “They did.”

He said he saw an officer in a police cruiser drive past 620 Short Spoon, turn on Sand Trap Drive, park on Sand Trap and remain there for about 15 minutes before leaving.

Hill said he thought to himself, “Well, I know he put a ticket on those vehicles.”

Hill said he followed behind where the officer had gone and found nothing had been done.

“I am really frustrated,” Hill said. “I came here because I love this small town — and I’m a taxpayer. And I know that something can be done.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I would like for you all to do something,” he said. “I love Rocky Mount. I don’t want to move. I retired and came here for the quiet life.”

A man in the front yard of 620 Short Spoon contacted Wednesday by the Telegram declined to comment for this story.

During the City Council meeting on Monday, Councilman Lige Daughtridge asked interim City Manager Peter Varney whether he could look into Hill’s concern.

Daughtridge noted he has brought forward complaints about other parts of Rocky Mount.

Daughtridge also made clear he believes business should not be in a residential zone.

“It just needs to be addressed because these are taxpayer citizens — everybody — and they have a right to live in a neighborhood that’s not inundated with business,” Daughtridge said.

He also made clear he supports doing what can be done legally to eliminate those businesses operating out of a residential zone.

The city has community code inspectors whose job is to enforce the municipality’s minimum housing code and the municipality’s public health, safety and nuisance ordinances.

Varney said Monday during the City Council meeting that for weeks there have been complaints to the municipality about 620 Short Spoon from neighbors about vehicles being parked in the street, in the driveway, in the yard and in various stages of repair.

The owner apparently operates a wrecker service and apparently has property along Tanner Road and uses that property to leave vehicles he picks up when he is working on a rotating basis to provide wrecker service, Varney said.

The owner apparently subsequently takes vehicles from that location to 620 Short Spoon to make repairs, Varney said.

He said the municipality has responded numerous times to 620 Short Spoon with community code inspectors, at first thinking that the vehicles there may have been abandoned, unlicensed and uninsured and may have been inoperable.

Varney said the vehicles turned out to be licensed and operable and owned by the owner.

“So the community code has not been effective,” he said.

He said the municipality looked at the zoning ordinance and imposed civil penalties against the owner for operating a business in a residential zone.

“That has been ineffective,” he said.

The next step would be to file an action seeking a collection of the civil penalties to see if that would result in a change in behavior, he said.

Councilman Tom Harris told Varney, “Perhaps this is a time that we really need to take a hard look at our community code.”

“I think it’s been quite a number of years since it has been updated,” Harris said. “And if we can somehow toughen the community code, maybe we can prevent … some of these incidents from happening.”

Varney made clear he plans to bring an update of the community code as an item during the next City Council work session, which would be Oct. 10.

“In this case, the community code has not been effective — and I really think it’s more of a zoning ordinance violation than the community code,” Varney said. “But we’ll be looking at the code.”

Councilman Andre Knight expressed appreciation to Hill for the courage to come to the council chamber because a lot of people would not come to a public forum to make that complaint.

Knight also said that numerous auto mechanic shops in people’s front yards and backyards have repeatedly been reported to the municipality.

“And we go through this cycle with community code,” Knight said.

Knight said he does not know whether those cases have resulted in civil penalties.

“But they all need to be treated the same in all of the neighborhoods because it’s a nuisance to those who are living in the neighborhoods that have to put up with it,” Knight said. “And I also think that community code needs to be mirrored with our public works, with sanitation, because I think they need to be working hand in hand.”

He said he believes a lot of times community code inspectors see things that should be reported to the sanitation officials and that they need to report things such as trash and other items continuing to remain at the curbsides.

“So I think some communication needs to be shared among those departments — and maybe just look at the entire structure and how it’s being structured and how it’s been governed” within the city, he said.

During the earlier part of the public input phase of the City Council meeting on Monday, resident Al Bullard expressed concerns about the presence of beggars.

Specifically, Bullard said, “My wife has been intimidated by the beggars on the streets.”

Bullard said that he went to Wilson and Greenville earlier during the day and that he did not see any beggars in those two cities.

Bullard, who also has a place in Atlantic Beach, said that he does not see any beggars there or in nearby Morehead City.

Bullard said that Morehead City has a place for those who do not have anywhere to go and that those staying at that place are clothed, fed and put to work.

“And it just looks bad when you drive into Rocky Mount — and especially a female feels intimated, especially at the corner of Winstead and 64,” he said.

He said he was referring to a man who positions himself in proximity to approaching motorists at the busy U.S. 64 interchange for Winstead Avenue in the northwestern part of the city.

He made clear he thinks maybe there needs to be a way to do away with the beggars being on the streets.

“It just looks so bad,” he said.

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