Person County leaders have spoken with the property owner after a Wednesday night party quickly became overcrowded with thousands of people.
The Person County Sheriff’s Office is not pressing charges against the organizers of the off-campus party in Timberlake celebrating North Carolina Central University’s homecoming.
However, a 21-year-old Charlotte woman is charged with DWI and reckless driving for crashing after she tried to drive herself and eight passengers home, court documents show.
The DWI crash injured four people. Everyone in the vehicle is expected to be OK, according to the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.
The event organizer sold 2,000 tickets and worked with the Orange County Speedway for attendees to park at the venue along Berry Pearce Road north of Willie Gray Road in Timberlake. Others planned to arrive on buses. However, Person County Sheriff Jason Wilborn believes as many as 5,000 people showed up.
NC Central did not sponsor or sanction Wednesday’s party. The university’s homecoming festivities run from Oct. 17 through Saturday.
WRAL News contacted the property owner on Friday. She put responsibility for Wednesday’s incident on the person who organized the event. The event organizer did not respond to WRAL News’ calls on Friday and posted an apology on social media.
WRAL News asked the property owner whether there were plans for more parties at the event space. The property owner hung up before providing an answer.
Person County Manager Katherine Cathey said the property owner has spoken with the county.
“The property owner did call to apologize for what happened [Wednesday] night,” said Person County Manager Katherine Cathey.
Cathey said the property is zoned as residential and the party itself wouldn’t necessarily be a problem.
An individual residential property could throw a party for its own guests. However, she said the advertising for the property as an event space is problematic.
“It came to my attention that this particular property was listed on a few websites as a special events venue,” Cathey said. “So we looked at the zoning for the property and with that, that is being viewed as an ongoing use of the property, which is regulated by our planning ordinance.”
Under zoning rules in Person County, Cathey says a property would have to file for a Special Use Permit. The permit application asks questions for the event, including site plans, use of the property, how crowds will be managed,
“The commissioners who are the approving authority for that permit can put special conditions on that approval,” Cathey said. “So there may have been conditions imposed about size of the gatherings, times of day when those events could be operated. Those conditions would have played out through a public process and would have been put into place as part of a permitting process.”
But Cathey says the owner didn’t do that. As of Thursday morning, there was an active Airbnb page showing the space as available to rent. The posting has since been removed.
WRAL News asked Cathey if removing the Airbnb page as an effort to comply with the county’s requirements.
“I hope so,” Cathey said. “I mean, I do think that as far as having the property owner reach out, that that’s a sign of good faith. She’s having those conversations and now she does have the knowledge. So I do hope that it’s moving in the direction to either follow the process or no longer continue that use there on that property.”
While the North Carolina Law Enforcement is investigating for any possible violations at the property during Wednesday’s event, the agency told WRAL News there are no prior charges issued there.
911 calls shed more light on Wednesday’s party
On Friday, WRAL News acquired nearly two dozen 911 calls made on Wednesday night.
Most of the calls were from NC Central students with no service, trying to find a way home.
“I can’t call a ride to get home,” one caller said. “I’m getting uncomfortable.”
The crash nearby coupled with the overcrowding escalated the situation. Law enforcement shut down Wednesday night’s party because first responders couldn’t navigate the area.
“I have an emergency now,” a 911 caller said. “Someone just crashed.”
