County Planning Board recommends against commercial development on Anderson Mountain

By Sam Kirk

The Catawba County Planning Board unanimously voted to advise against a proposal to rezone property on Anderson Mountain for commercial use at their regularly scheduled meeting on October 27th.

The 105.87 acre property, located just north of Jones Fish Camp on NC-16, is currently zoned for residential use only. The proposal, submitted by The Building Company US, LLC, would designate 15.12 acres of highway frontage “highway commercial,” while retaining 90.75 acres behind the commercial area for residential development.

Highway commercial zoning allows for retail, restaurants, business offices, garages, self-storage, campgrounds, and other business uses.

“Since we are [keeping] the back piece of this property as a [residential] subdivision, this has uses that will benefit [that] community,” said Miles Wright, a representative of the developer, in his presentation to the board. “It would also benefit the surrounding community. Things like barber shops, nail salons. Things like that, so people won’t have to go so far to be able to access those services.”

According to Wright, the developer would also build The Building Company, LLC’s construction office on the property. The property is not connected to the public sewer service, which Wright says would limit the uses of the commercial section.

“The limiting factor on this property will be the septic systems,” Wright said. “With the septic systems, you can’t have any kind of big water uses. Fast food is probably out of the picture.”

The developer’s plans call for single-family homes on 1-acre lots on the residential portion of the property. Since the property is already zoned for residential use, the residential portion of the development can be built without rezoning.

“We’re planning on making 87 [residential] lots,” Wright said. “If this [rezoning] would be denied, it would be all residential, which, with the density bonuses and things, we could get up to about 115 lots on the property.”

Catawba County ordinances dictate that the zoning at the front of the property applies for the entire property. According to Assistant Planning Director Laurie LoCicero, since the property is not yet subdivided, this proposal would effectively rezone the entire 105.87 acre property for highway commercial use.

LoCicero also said that the rezoning would be inconsistent with Catawba County’s current development plans.

“The Catawba County comprehensive plan future land use map recommends low-density residential on this parcel and in this area,” she said. “[The comprehensive plan] recommends commercial growth to be concentrated at three commercial nodes along NC-16. … Staff does not recommend the planning board submit a favorable recommendation to the Board of Commissioners to rezone this … parcel.”

Two individuals unaffiliated with the county or the developer made public comments on the proposal.

“I’d like to get some clarification on this fifteen acres that borders my property,” one resident said. “Is that gonna be a strip mall? You have no way of knowing what kind of environmental impact it’d have on me, then?”

Another resident said that approving more commercial development could change the character of the area.

“[I live] right beside the property,” she said. “I’m against rezoning for the frontage. I was concerned about the back part, which [Wright] clarified would be homes, but it seems like a lot to me to be coming through there. I would like for it to stay the same.”

After some discussion, the Planning Board voted unanimously against the rezoning.

“I’m just not sure why we have a [unified development ordinance] if we’re gonna completely ignore it for this development,” said board member Dr. Bill Pekman. “It doesn’t defy the imagination that someone is gonna want to do the same thing outside of these nodal areas. That, combined with the fact that we have no guarantee 106 won’t remain highway commercial, gives me pause.”

Other members focused their criticism solely on the size of the parcel to be rezoned.

“I think it’s just a matter of time before we have to expand the commercial use up and down 16 and away from these node areas … as the traffic comes this way from Charlotte,” said Darrin Reid, a member of the board. “I think that’s something we’re gonna have to address in the future. Since this piece is not officially subdivided out, and it’s gonna suck in all 106 acres, I just think the order that this is being presented in is just not something we could go for.”

The Catawba County Planning Board is appointed by the Board of Commissioners and acts on an advisory basis. Decisions made by the Planning Board are not final. The Board of Commissioners will vote on the rezoning proposal at their regularly scheduled meeting on November 17th.