and prosperous Wishing you a for
Volume 128
Issue 52
2017
kmherald.com
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
75 CENTS
NTE Energy
Significant progress in 2016 KING HONORED – Retired Kings Mountain fireman Bobby King has received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the prestigious Governor’s award. From left, KM Fire Department Chief Frank Burns, King, Mayor Scott Neisler, and Wayne King, nephew of the honoree who made the nomination.
Governor’s award to Bobby King A firefighter all his life, Bobby King is recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the prestigious Governor’s award from Governor Pat McCrory which honors exemplary service that is above and beyond the call of duty which has made a significant impact. The nomination was made by King’s nephew, Wayne King, in recognition of King’s longtime community service beginning as a volunteer in the Kings Mountain Fire Department in 1975. Officer of the Year, Firefighter of the Year twice, and
KM Jaycees Firefighter of the Year, King rose through the ranks of KMFD to Captain and retired after 40 years on the job July 19, 2015. “I guess my hobby has always been firefighting, giving back to the community is what we as firemen do every day,’’ said King. In 1975 King and Jerry White helped build the Kings Mountain Fire Museum which holds the oldest fire trucks and much more memorabilia of the fire department. The award to King was presented in December at the fire station.
CDBG grant for $500,000 to rehab two buildings
Whetstine tapped for vacant seat on county board
The City of Kings Mountain has been awarded a half million dollars in Community Development Block Funds (CDBG) from the North Carolina Department of Commerce Main Street Division to rehabilitate two vacant, deteriorated commercial buildings in downtown Kings Mountain. Mayor Scott Neisler was authorized by city council to execute the grant agreement for funding approval to the N.C. Department of Commerce at last Tuesday’s city council meeting. The buildings to be rehabilitated are at 213 S. Battleground Avenue and 131 West Mountain Street.
T h e Clevel a n d County Republican Party executive commitWHETSTINE tee is recommending to the county board of commissioners that Ronnie Whetstine fill the vacant seat on the county board left open after four-term commissioner Ronnie Hawkins died Dec. 8 just after being sworn in for a fifth term. He received a unanimous vote for the appointment. Also, seeking nomination were Doug Bridges and Gina Collias. The commissioners are expected to approve the appointment at their Jan. 3 meeting and Whetstine could be sworn in as early as Jan. 17. See WHETSTINE, Page 7A
Construction of NTE Energy’s Kings Mountain Energy Center off Gage Road at I-85 and Dixon School Road made significant progress during 2016. Kings Mountain Energy Center (KMEC) is a 475 MW natural gas fired combined cycle electric generating facility. Once operational, the plant will be capable of powering approximately 400,000 homes and represents an investment of over $440 million, providing numerous benefits to the surrounding communities and their economies. NTE Energy’s contractor, Gemma Power Systems, started construction activities during the first week in March. Over the past nine months, Gemma has completed site grading, building/equipment foundations, underground piping/electrical conduits, major concrete structures, and water tanks. Currently, Gemma is erecting structural steel for plant building and components. The KMEC construction is approximately 22 percent complete. In addition to KMEC construction, NTE is working with the City of Kings Mountain, Duke Energy
and Williams Pipeline to construct plant interconnections. The City of Kings Mountain is currently finishing installation of water/sewer lines to the site, as well as building and upgrading of two sewage lift stations. Duke Energy is completing construction of a new on-site switchyard and Williams has mobilized to start construction associated with a new gas yard. KMEC construction will continue throughout 2017 with the major focus of completing the mechanical and electrical portions of the plant. The natural gas combustion turbine generator and the steam turbineg generator is scheduled to be delivered to the site in April and June. KMEC is scheduled to start commercial operations in October 2018. The City of Kings Mountain will begin wholesale electric purchases from NTE on January 1, 2019. In addition to the City of Kings Mountain, eight other parties will purchase wholesale electric service from NTE. In addition to providing wholesale electric service to the City of Kings Moun-
Significant progress in 2016 at the site of NTE Energy’s $400M Kings Mountain Energy Center. This photo was made in December at the site.
NTE site on Gage Road near I-85 at Dixon School Road in March 2016 before major construction got underway. This huge development project broke ground July 28, 2015. tain, KMEC will be a significant contributor to the city/county tax base and
will be large water/sewer customer of the City of Kings Mountain.
Old year wanes: new year for city ELIZABETH STEWART lib.kmherald@gmail.com
The New Year 2017 will be an election year in Kings Mountain. Seats of three city councilmen are up for grabs. Four-year terms of city councilmen Mike Butler, Ward 2; Tommy Hawkins, Ward 3; and At-Large councilman Curtis Pressley are expiring in 2017. In November 2015, former mayor Scott Neisler beat out incumbent and
BUTLER
HAWKINS
long-serving Mayor Rick Murphrey, who was running for an eighth term. Jay Rhodes defeated incumbent Rick Moore for the Ward 5 seat. Re-elected were Ward 4 councilman Rod-
PRESSLEY
ney Gordon, Ward I councilman Howard Shipp, and At-large councilman Keith Miller. City Council is a seven-member board. The mayor, who presides, votes only in case of a tie.
Neisler said that the past year 2016, his first in office in 15 years, was a year of challenges and progress. He spent the first days of his administration visiting downtown businesses and his excitement over special events he hopes has been contagious with good attendance at the first ever Winter Wonderland at Patriots Park weekends in December. He plans to work with city staff to beef up See OLD YEAR WANES, Page 7A
New proposed housing
Orchard Trace rezoned by city Orchard Trace, a proposed 120-acre housing complex/development between Margrace Road and Kings Mountain Boulevard, was unanimously rezoned by Kings Mountain City Council last Tuesday, the first step in the process which includes engineering, a subdivision plat and presentation of the plat and
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final design at future meetings of the city planning board and city council. “This is a great opportunity for Kings Mountain,’’ said Ward V councilman Jay Rhodes. “I support it.” Joe Champion is agent for the proposed development which got its name from the former peach orchard on the property.
The property is to the east of Bain Road, to the east of Testa Family Hospice House on Kings Mountain Boulevard and to the west of Pinehurst Drive. The property was rezoned from Residential R-10 to a Conditional District R-6 for a planned unit development after public hearing and approval of a
resolution/ordinance. Two adjoining property owners expressed concerns with the loss of undeveloped property near them, the loss of wildlife habitat, and the possibility of seeing development (buildings) where there had not been development (buildings) before. See ORCHARD TRACE, Page 4A
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