The Hayter Firm wanted the town to rezone the wooded property from Multi-Family to General Business. The five-acre site where the Mini Pines golf course and go-cart track is located is also zoned General Business. The plans were to expand the site for a larger planned commercial development.
The council turned down the request on grounds that traffic would be a problem on the service road off U.S. 1 near the exit ramp at Pennsylvania Avenue. Mayor Frank Quis also expressed opposition to allowing additional commercial activity at one of the town’s major gateways.
Plans showed some large retail buildings that could include a movie theater and other stores, which are permitted uses in the General Business zoning district.
Council members were worried about adding more traffic near tricky intersections with the highway ramps that converge to the north and south of the tract off West Pennsylvania Avenue. The service road, which is maintained by the N.C. Department of Transportation, is not adequate to handle the additional traffic that could be generated by the commercial uses the developers were proposing, town Planning Director Bart Nuckols had told the council.
The DOT has no immediate plans to make improvements to the highway entrances and the service road at the site, according to Assistant District Engineer Marcus Jones.
The Morganton Road bridge overpass to the south at the Holiday Inn will be replaced by DOT in several years, with some reworking of the ramps.
Quis noted that the town had a letter from the applicants asking for the council to delay the vote.
One-Acre Rezoned
The council voted 4-1, with David Woodruff casting the lone dissenting vote, to rezone one acre on Broad Street, south of Henson Road and east of U.S. 1 near Saunders Boulevard from Residential Single Family to General Business. The lot is behind a tract that fronts on U.S. 1, which is zoned General Business.
The change will allow the property owner, Bill Smith, to sell the property for commercial development.
Woodruff said he was opposed to the rezoning on general principle, because he didn’t want to see residential property changed to commercial. He pointed out that there is at least one house in the area.
No one has opposed the rezoning at the public hearings.
Road Abandoned
On a related item, the council voted 3-2 to abandon the right of way for an undeveloped section of South Broad Street Extension. Quis and Woodruff voted against.
“I look at it as a dividing line between residential and the General Business area, and oppose it for the same reasons,” Woodruff said before the vote.
Quis said, “I’m of the opinion it’s there to protect the possibility of an alternate road behind these houses for large trucks making deliveries and other traffic being generated by the probable commercial development of this land (that was rezoned to General Business). I think it will be much more difficult if that easement is abandoned for the road. I think it’s a mistake to abandon the right-of-way.”
The extension is shown on maps but has not been built since Southern Pines did not act to exercise the right to have the right-of-way when the property was platted.
Councilman Mike Haney and others said they would like to explore some type access from behind the U.S. 1 frontage to connect that area in Southern Pines with North Poplar Street (the old U.S. 1) in Aberdeen. That could provide an alternate route for new traffic generated by the commercial development that will come from U.S. 1 and the surrounding area.
Another wrinkle in the area is the potential for a low-income family apartment complex that could be developed, adding more traffic in that area. Some council members said they felt that Southern Pines doesn’t need any more low-income housing.
Although Haney, Smithson and Mayor Pro tem Fred Walden expressed interest in being “conscious” of an alternative route to U.S. 1, they voted to give up the Broad Street Extension right of way.
Nuckols said there is a utility line easement through that area, preventing any construction along the properties. The council could still work on gaining potential access to North Poplar Street, working with the N.C. Department of Transportation and the town of Aberdeen, both of which have control over some areas, Nuckols said later.
Mid South Vote Delayed
The council delayed a vote until the November meeting on Mid Tal Development’s request for a conditional use permit to develop a 74-unit villa condominium project on 24 acres as part of the Mid-South Golf Club residential development off Midland Road. The site is on the north side of the club and east of Knoll Road.
Several homeowners whose property abuts a planned swimming pool and tennis court to serve the other parts of the residential development (not the villas) want the town to require the developers to put in a 100-foot buffer, low-level night lighting and security fencing. Residents made the same request during a public hearing by the advisory Planning Board.
Project architect Alan Stagaard and attorney Robert Thompson promised that the tennis court lights would be only for security, not bright enough to allow playing.
A perimeter fence will enclose the development, Stagaard said.
Woodruff said he tried to visit the site inside the gated community but hadn’t gained access. Thompson assured him that any councilman who wanted to inspect the site could get in.
