BY DEBBIE PAGE
The Troutman Planning & Zoning Board recommended the annexation and rezoning of a Houston Road parcel on Monday night. The two-acre site is currently zoned Iredell County general business.
Mountain State Investments is constructing a 9,600-square-foot metal building on the property through permits obtained on its current Iredell County zoning designation. The flex space structure will be built out to suit one or more tenants for office/warehouse uses.
Town Planner Lynne Hair assured the board that the building and landscaping would meet Troutman UDO standards, either through the Design Review Board process or the denial of water/sewer permits and hookup until the building and property meets town standards.
Hair recommended the board approve the rezoning request since the 138 Houston Road property falls under the town’s interchange commercial uses on the Future Land Use Map, which includes general business and industrial development. Other nearby properties also have similar uses.
Pastor James Carter of Houston Road Baptist Church, located to the rear of this property for 25 years, expressed concerns about the property’s development for light industrial uses and its compatibility with the church.
Graves are located near the property line, and Carter feared storm runoff could affect the church property.
Hair noted the site plan indicates the building is being constructed near the road frontage of the property and the tree line and buffer should not be impacted, leaving the church property undisturbed.
The board approved the rezoning request 4-0, with Mark Taylor and Barry General absent from the meeting.
UPDATES ON PREVIOUS BUSINESS
Hair reported that the Perth Road River Rock triplex project was denied annexation by the Town Council in November, effectively killing the project. The revised Future Land Use Map, to be considered by the council in December, also changes the area to Special Lake Use, which will discourage high-density projects in the area.
The Northfork Business Park project on Murdock Road was continued to the council’s December 8 meeting after the long public hearing in November. Murdock Road neighbors strongly opposed the project.
After a detailed discussion between council members and developers about the project and council requests for developer concessions, Town Attorney Gary Thomas advised the council to get all conditions requested by the council in writing before voting on rezoning.
Hair told the council that though the present Future Land Use Map recommends Rural-Residential uses for the parcel, the newly revised Future Land Use Map map, also presented to council for consideration at this meeting, would designate the Murdock area for light and heavy industrial uses, in keeping with the nearby Walmart and Godley warehouse facilities, Onsrud, ABT, and the cement plant.
She also said “it is unlikely that rural, residential, and agricultural uses will be in harmony with the surrounding areas. Furthermore, with the plan showing the properties to the south across Murdock Road being developed as heavy industrial uses, this makes it even less likely that the category shown on the (current) land use map is in harmony with the future of the surrounding area.”
The council will also vote on the revised Future Land Use Map at its December meeting after delaying the vote for a 30 day public and council review.
The Planning and Zoning Board unanimously rejected recommending the North Fork Business Park in September, citing inconsistency with the current land-use map, inconsistencies in the traffic impact analysis, and better suited areas near Exit 42.
DECEMBER MEETING
Because the Planning and Zoning board has no business to consider, the December 26 meeting has been cancelled due to lack of agenda items. The next meeting is scheduled for January 23.