Eight months after the Hampton Development Authority’s creation, the first slate of officers has been installed.
The Hampton City Council confirmed seven appointments by unanimous vote at its May 11 regular meeting. Sheila Bartow, Devlin Cleveland, Catherine Daniel, Britt Evans, Arley Lowe, Desmond McClain and Tracey North were appointed to serve four-year terms. Subsequent appointments will be staggered, according to city officials.

In other business, the council unanimously approved an ordinance governing operating hours of city parks. Under the new guidelines, parks will be closed each night between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. unless there is an event scheduled for which the city has issued a special event permit, in which case the park will remain open as long as that particular permit allows.

Resolutions were approved regarding two separate escrow agreements with developers for a future roundabout at the intersection of Floyd Road and East King Road. The agreements with Cottages at Southampton/Jim Chapman Communities and Hampton Floyd LLC/Gates at South Hampton include contributions of $250,000 each to be held for the project, which was deemed by engineers to be the intersection improvement that would best serve the needs of the communities. The rezoning of these properties were contingent upon future improvement of the intersection.

The council approved the first reading of a proposed ordinance granting a variance for property at 38 East Main Street North. According to a city staff document, the applicant requested the variance because of a desire to divide the tract into two separate lots for future development but the resulting lots would not meet the minimum lot area, minimum lot width or impervious coverage requirements for the city’s downtown mixed-use zoning district. The change would become official should it pass the second reading before the council, which will likely come next month.

Final approval was given to ordinances addressing the reporting structure of the city clerk and removing references to water and sewer impact fees, which the city does not collect.

A new contract with the city manager was approved unanimously while a similar action regarding the city clerk did not take place due to lack of a motion.