The Winston-Salem City Council will discuss tonight whether to give $1.75 million in economic incentives to technology company Inmar Inc., which is considering expansion here. The council will also discuss a new law that would allow food and alcohol to be served outdoors downtown.
The incentives to Inmar would help offset the company's costs to buy land and build a facility. The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners approved a package worth up to $1.05 million last week. Company representatives said this month that Inmar is considering a $62 million expansion that could create 212 jobs and retain 761 jobs in Winston-Salem.
Mayor Allen Joines, who worked on the deal with Inmar, said Inmar has also promised to help local colleges and universities train prospective employees how to perform high-tech computer jobs.
"Inmar is exactly the type of knowledge-based company, technology company that we absolutely need to keep and keep growing here in Winston-Salem," Joines said.
The package is the second largest for a local company in the 22 years that economic incentives have been given. The largest was the $5 million for Wachovia Corp. to assist with the construction of the Wachovia Center in 1994. Larger packages have been provided to companies moving into the area, such as Caterpillar Inc., which is eligible for $28.5 million in local incentives.
The deal would come with a "clawback" provision that would require Inmar to pay back to the city all incentives if the yearly goals are not met within the first five years. After that the clawback drops to 50 percent in the sixth year and down to 10 percent in the 10th year.
The average annual starting salary for the new Inmar jobs would be $72,783, according to city documents. The average wage for the jobs that would be retained is $69,957.
The sidewalk-dining ordinance, which the council will also discuss Monday, has been a contentious downtown issue for months. The new ordinance would basically legalize what has been in practice for the last several years: Restaurants and bars could serve food and alcohol outdoors until 1 or 2 a.m., depending on the night of the week.
Several downtown residents said over the past few months that outdoor drinking and dining would only contribute to downtown noise. Other residents, and restaurant and bar owners, said a vibrant downtown includes al fresco dining.
Council member Derwin Montgomery, who represents the city's East Ward — which includes part of downtown — said downtown residents should expect some noise.
Currently, only establishments that serve food are allowed to serve drinks outside, though that ordinance is rarely enforced.
The proposed changes would allow restaurants and bars to serve food and alcoholic beverages at sidewalk cafes downtown until 1 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. The proposed changes would also prohibit bars and restaurants within 300 feet of a residence from dumping trash between midnight and 7 a.m.
Wake Wagner, president of the Downtown Residents Association of Winston-Salem — which is in favor of allowing sidewalk dining and drinking — said that having people eat and drink on the sidewalks helps people downtown feel safe. "Just walk through downtown Winston-Salem at night and tell me what blocks you feel safe on and which ones you don't," he said. "People being outside at these restaurants, it creates a lively atmosphere."
Wagner said he thinks the downtown residents who were vocally opposed to sidewalk drinking and dining have "backed off."
"This was never a resident-versus-business issue," he said. "From what we've been able to tell, the vast majority of residents downtown don't want any changes to the sidewalk-dining stuff … and my personal feeling is that they should be allowed to have one or two loud streets in any city."
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