Louie Vellia and Frank Manis from Mama’s Pizza Express

Aug. 7. By Dave Vieser. If all goes as planned, there will be a new home for Mama’s Pizza on South Main Street by Labor Day of next year. Owner Frank Manis will present his plans to the town board tonight, and if approved, the new facility should be open in about a year. Manis plans to erect a new one-story structure on vacant land behind the current restaurant. The new building will be approximately 5,250 square feet, and will include 3,250 square feet for the new Mama’s Pizza Restaurant, and 2,000 square feet of additional commercial space to be leased to another tenant. The new building is proposed to be set back from Main Street. By placing the building behind the current pizzeria, which will eventually be demolished, he will only have to close the restaurant for about 4-5 weeks in the summer of 2018.

In addition to their retail eat-in and takeout business, Mama’s Pizza prepares hundreds of school lunches daily. The rezoning request was postponed from July 17 due to a scheduling conflict.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the Town Board is expected to award a $1.94 million contract to Pilot Mountain-based Garanco Inc. for a new Town Public Works Building on Starcreek Drive. Garanco was the lowest responsible bidder for the project, and the town expects that construction will start in September and is expected to take 8-9 months.

The meeting begins at 7 pm in Town Hall on Catawba Avenue.