The council is not expected to vote on the amended rezoning request from developer John A. O’Malley until a later meeting.
However, the council is expected to vote on a proposed change to allow exceptions to an ordinance prohibiting the firing of BB guns and air rifles in the town limits.
Mayor Pro Tem Fred Walden will preside at the meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. Mayor Frank Quis will be out of town,
Because of the nature of the rezoning request, the council could require that speakers be sworn in and present only documented evidence, rather than just stating opinions for and against the rezoning, according to Town Manager Kyle Sonnenberg.
O’Malley has submitted a new application for what is called a conditional rezoning, which would allow the developer and the council to specify a number of conditions — such as limiting the number of uses permitted — before the rezoning is approved. Under a regular rezoning, an applicant could build whatever uses are allowed in that particular zoning district.
In his initial request, which was the subject of a public hearing by the Planning Board last month, O’Malley had asked the town to rezone the 39 acres from a Planned Development district to General Business, which would have allowed a wide variety of permissible uses and less control over road access and other design and buffering factors.
“He has not submitted his conditions yet,” Sonnenberg said at an agenda work session Wednesday. “We anticipate getting them on Tuesday.”
Town Planning Director Bart Nuckols has recommended nine conditions regarding buffering and other issues that council could impose if O’Malley does not submit his own conditions.
Several Whispering Pines residents spoke in favor of the zoning during the public hearing held last month by the advisory Planning Board. They said it would provide a more convenient location for them to shop.
Esther Frye, who lives next to the site, and Sandhills Communi-ty College President Dr. John Dempsey spoke against the rezoning.
Sons Divided
One of Frye’s two sons, Donald Frye, who lives in Virginia, read a statement on behalf of his 90-year-old mother opposing the request, saying it would harm her quality of life.
But her other son, Floyd Frye, who owns land on Airport Road in front his mother’s property, supports the rezoning. He did not speak at the public hearing last month.
“I included my property in the (rezoning) proposal,” Floyd Frye said in a telephone interview Friday. “The biggest reason I’m doing it is because the airport is going to take the front of my property one day for their road relocation.”
Frye acknowledged that rezoning his property would make it more valuable should the airport try to exercise eminent domain to buy the land for the relocation of the intersection of N.C. 22 and Airport Road.
“If I’m going to pay more taxes on my property, they should pay more for it.” Frye said.
Frye said he has on the property all his life. His mother has lived there for 64 years. But he feels it will soon be time to move on.
Frye has granted O’Malley permission to access the land for the proposed shopping center through his property on Airport Road. O’Malley’s property does not have frontage on Airport Road.
The Airport Road/N.C. 22 intersection realignment would cut through Floyd Frye’s front yard. The proposed shopping center is behind his property. Frye also said the college uses the back of the property to dump yard rakings and other debris. He said trucks and other noise and intrusive lights are already affecting the residential property on their side next to the college.
The town should carefully consider special requirements for access to the development as one of the conditions in rezoning the property, Councilman Mike Haney said during the Wednesday meeting.
“I want to make sure we don’t go the way of U.S. 1 … with a driveway every 10 feet,” he said.
Nuckols said the town can limit the number of access points as part of the conditions for rezoning. Other conditions could involve utilities, buffering and other landscaping.
The relocation of the intersection of N.C. 22 and Airport Road, which are both state roads, is on track. The FAA is requiring that traffic and development be moved farther away from the Moore County Airport for safety purposes by the summer of 2006, Airport Executive Director Michael Shouse said Friday.
Firing Guns
If the council approves the amendment to the ordinance on firing BB guns and air rifles inside the town limits, it would be up to the police chief to grant exceptions.
Under the proposal, BB guns and air rifles could only be used on shooting ranges at state-approved schools. Instructors must be state-certified.
The proposed change was prompted by a request from Calvary Christian School on Bennett Street that it be allowed to have a having a shooting range on its campus, which would be a part of the school’s educational program. The school already offers a gun safety class.
Several people who oppose allowing an exception to the ordinance spoke at the Feb. 10 council. The council delayed voting on the proposal to allow more time to consider the matter.
Quis said during a council meeting Wednesday that he would prefer that the town require shooting ranges be indoors.
Newly elected council members Chris Smithson and David Woodruff favored going ahead with a Tuesday vote, even without Quis present. Walden has already indicated that he favors the change. Quis said if he were to be present at the meeting, he would vote for the change.
