By Staff
Two city boards have given their OKs for the facility
By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
Washington’s City Council is expected to again consider a request first made in November 2008 to locate a trapeze school in the city.
The request has gone to the Planning Board and Historic Preservation Commission for their review and approval, which they gave. The council has final say on the trapeze school.
Members of the Planning Board expressed no opposition to a trapeze school being located in the B1H Central Business Historic District. Sports instructional schools are a permitted use in the B1H zoning district.
The Planning Board determined a trapeze school would be consistent with the Standard Industrial Classification Manual’s classification No. 7999. That classification appears in the city’s zoning ordinance as a reference for the permitted use of sports instructional schools. Within that classification are activities such as trampoline operation and schools and camps for sports instructional services and gymnastics instruction.
Historic Preservation Commission members also expressed no opposition to the trapeze school. The commission also allowed a chain-link fence to be part of the trapeze-school site, with the condition the fence be painted black.
At the council’s November meeting when they made their request to locate a trapeze school in the city, Doug and Adrian Soloman said they preferred Washington to other places because its waterfront provides an attractive setting that would be appealing to spectators. The Solomans talked about locating the trapeze school on the green space between the former McQuay and Maola buildings and the promenade along the Pamlico River, which is in the B1H district.
Their proposed site for the trapeze school would require additional lighting and an 8-foot-tall chain-link fence, according to the Solomans. The school requires no permanent structure, with its poles, nets, guy wires, bars and other equipment being easy to disassemble, they noted.
The school would provide the insurance coverage needed for such a facility, Doug Soloman said in November.
According to the Solomans’ presentation in November, a flat piece of land, 150 feet by 75 feet, is needed for the school.
The trapeze school would not necessarily train people to work as trapeze artists for a circus. Instead, the trapeze school would primarily serve as a recreational activity. The school’s basic program is a two-hour class for about eight to 10 people, with each person paying $40 to take the class, the Solomans said.
From March to mid-November, the school would operate inside, possibly moving to an inside location during winter months.
The council meets at 4:30 p.m. Monday in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building, 102 E. Second St.