HIGH POINT – The City Council tonight is scheduled to consider taking a step toward the creation of a zoning district that would guide the development of new furniture showrooms.

Council will be asked to initiate a zoning map amendment for the proposed market overlay district. City planners said the move is a required part of the process in getting the district established, which could take place this fall. The proposal is based on a Core City Plan recommendation to limit the development of all new showrooms to one area within the city, thereby fostering a more compact and concentrated area for the High Point Market.

According to the plan, which is dropping the “core city” designation and is now known as The City Project Inc., concentrating showrooms within a defined district not only will strengthen the market but could help revitalize surrounding areas, where inflated land values have discouraged investment. Planners gathered input from showroom owners, various business and real estate interests, the market authority and the public in developing the proposed district.

The proposed boundary encompasses areas that include the largest concentration of existing showrooms. New showroom development would not be allowed outside the district.

Also on the council’s agenda is a public hearing on the proposed financing for the purchase of property that would house a local job resource center. The proposal calls for the city to buy a 24,000-square-foot former medical office at 607 Idol St. to serve as the new home of the Guilford County Workforce Development Board’s JobLink career center in High Point. The local N.C. Employment Security Commission office also would relocate there under the proposal, which states that the city’s cost for the purchase and renovation of the site would not exceed $2 million.

If the deal is approved, the city would buy the site and lease it to the Workforce Development Board and the ESC.

pkimbrough@hpe.com | 888-3531