Catawba Commissioners reject Anderson Mountain commercial development, developer applies for new subdivision

By Sam Kirk

The Catawba County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to reject a proposal that would have rezoned land on Anderson Mountain for commercial use at their regularly scheduled meeting on November 17th.

The proposal, submitted by The Building Company US, LLC, would have rezoned 15.12 acres of highway frontage on NC-16 “highway commercial,” a type of zoning that permits general business uses. The parcel, 105.87 acres in total, is currently zoned for residential use only. The rear 90.75 acres of the property would have been used for residential development.

According to Greg Crawley, owner of The Building Company US, LLC, the frontage of the property, if rezoned, would have primarily been used for his company’s building office, with additional space that would be leased for other purposes.

“My office, we’d like to put that there,” said Crawley. “We looked at health and beauty, hair salon, nail salon, that sort of stuff. Nothing real taxing on our septic system. Educational, maybe a tutoring center, small business office space, something that could be [like a] home goods [store], small furniture store.”

The Catawba County Planning Board voted to advise against the proposal at their October 27th meeting, citing concerns that the entire 105.87 acre property would be rezoned under Catawba County ordinances, which dictate that the zoning at the front of the property applies for the entire property.

“If the applicant or anyone were to sell once this is approved, a different vision may be realized,” said Catawba County Planning Director Chris Timberlake at the November 17th Commissioners’ meeting. “This appears to be an imperfect approach.”

The Planning Board also cited concerns that the rezoning would go against the county’s current land use development plans.

“Concerns from the Planning Board include not believing that the proposed zoning is something desired for the area, that the request does not carry out the adopted land use plan, and [that the property] is along an area where there is limited access [to NC-16],” Timberlake said.

A representative of the applicant stated at the October 27th meeting that if the rezoning plan was rejected by the Board of Commissioners, the entire 105.67 acre property would be used for a 115-unit residential development. The residential plan would be fully compliant with both current zoning and land use regulations and would not require special approval from the Board of Commissioners.

However, the applicant submitted a subdivision request prior to the November 17th meeting. If approved, the 15.12 acres of highway frontage will be subdivided into a separate lot, allowing it to be rezoned commercial without affecting the rear 90.75 acres of the property.

According to Commissioner Abernethy, the Board of Commissioners would be more willing to consider the commercial rezoning request if the property was subdivided first and the company then reapplied.

“It seems like there was some piecing together that was going on after the unfavorable recommendation of the Planning Board,” Abernethy said. “I don’t know if what was presented to us by the applicant was necessarily what was presented to the Planning Board and the staff. If we say no, can they reapply?”

In the event that The Building Company reapplies, the request for rezoning will need to undergo the entire review process again, including votes by the Planning Board and the Board of Commissioners.

At time of publishing, the subdivision request was listed on the Catawba County website as “under review.”