The Chocowinity Board of Commissioners met Tuesday night, addressing a variety of issues including a residential neighborhood’s speed limit, dilapidated houses and zoning for a new apartment complex.

Friedman/Ravenwood LLC, a Washington-based development company, petitioned the Chocowinity Planning Board last month to amend a zoning ordinance for an apartment complex planned on six acres of a 25-acre parcel of land bordered by U.S. Highway 17 and Bragaw Lane.

The board voted unanimously to amend the existing low-density group housing regulation from three dwellings per acre to eight dwellings per acre. Mayor Jimmy Mobley Jr. said that, as of yet, there is no projected start date for construction and no site plans have been submitted for the complex. A public hearing will be held at the next board meeting for residents’ input on the matter.

Speed limits were the issue in the neighborhood of Cypress Corner. Kevin Brickhouse, the town’s public-works director, recommended that the speed limit in the “strictly residential” neighborhood be set “no higher than 25 mph.” Concern voiced for the neighborhood’s children led the board to vote unanimously to post a 15 mph speed limit.

Brickhouse also said periods of decreased water quality experienced by some residents near the N.C. Highway 33 overpass will continue to happen, perhaps as long as construction in going on.

“It will come and go as long as they keep jarring the land,” Brickhouse said.

Replacement of the circa 1935 bridge spanning the Norfolk Southern Railway on N.C. Highway 33 is expected is expected to be completed in October.

The board also discussed a number of derelict houses in and around Chocowinity that need to be demolished. The town will be tracking down property owners and giving them the option to tear down the homes, Mobley said.

Chocowinity Police Chief Todd Alligood submitted the police report: in the month of February, town police had 38 calls, issued 29 citations and made two arrests.

Commissioners and town employees will meet April 16 for a budget workshop.

The next board meeting will be held May 2.

For more information, visit www.townofchocowinity.com.