STANLY) COUNTY Wtan An Lant Sacoenr. Stanly County Planning Board September 11,2023 - Meeting Minutes  Call to Order Chair. Jay Eckman called the meeting to order on September 11, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. int the Gene Stanly County Planning Board members attending David Underwood,: Jay Eckman, Michael Williams & Tim  McIntyre meeting room at 10001 N. First Street, Albemarle, North Carolina.  Fesperman  Absent: Kevin Brickman, TJ Smith &. Joel Mauldin  Stanly County Planning Staff Attending: Bobl Remsburg, Planning Director  Chair Eckman asked if there were any conflicts of interests with thei items tol bel heard due to financial or personal  relationships. There were: none There were: none.  Chair Eckman asked if there were any other additions to the agenda that the board needed to consider.  Chair Eckman asked for ai motion to approve the proposed agenda.  Motion: David Underwood Second: Michael Williams Approved: 4-0  Chair Eckman asked for ai motion to approve the minutes from. July 24, 2023.  Motion: David Underwood Second: Tim Fesperman Approved: 4-0  Chair Eckman shared that the first item on the agenda was ZA 23-08, a1 request by Christian Herring to rezone a 21.61 acre parcel located at 35893 Red Bird Road, Albemarle from R20 (Residential) tol RA( Residential  Agricultural).  Chair Eckman invited county staff to share the details of this request.  Bob Remsburg shared thei following:  Thisi is ai request from Mr. Christian Herring to rezone aj parcel that is 21.61 acres which is located at 35893 Red Bird) Road from R20 to RA. Ins some books you could consider this a down zoning. Iti is currently zoned R20 along with other parcels along Ridge Road south of Mountain View Church Road. The access is from the end of Red Bird Road which is a dead end street and state maintained road. Mr. Herring plans to continue farming and forestry on this property. Adjacent property to the South, West and) East are zoned R20.. Adjacent properties to the North are zoned RA. Iti isi in the Airport Overlay District but that does nota affect anything here. You just can't build something really tall. It is not that close to the airport buti in some cases we have to deal with tall trees. An area of flood zone does exist on the west side oft thej property along the creek. Iti is located: in a secondary growth area per the Land  Use Plan.  1    Mr. Remsburg displayed images oft thej property.  Everything south of Ridge Street is zoned R20 and that was done many years ago but Mr. Herring's request ist to reverse that and have this section as RA. Therei is no water or sewer and thet traffic on Red Bird is very limited.  Chair Eckman asked ift thel board had any questions.  There were none.  Chair) Eckman invited Mr. Herring to speak in favor ofl his request.  Mr. Herring shared thei following:  Id don't have much to add other than what was in the letter and what you have seen. I would just like to share a little bit of our plans for your benefit and also my neighbor, Mr. Drye who is here tonight. Our plan is we bought that land because we wanted aj place for our family to live and to have a little homestead and personal farm. Ib have four kids from 9: years to 61 months and wei really want aj place where they can put down roots and hopefully one day that willl bet theirs. Ouri intent is entirely tol live off of that land and make it ours. Wej probably will clear some sO we can have some fields and put up fences and barns to have some animals. Iti felt likel RA was a1 more: suitable zoning for what we want to do. Id don't know if you guys have paid attention but building prices are a little high right now and we bought this property 2 years ago this month and we have not been able tol build what we want to and going RA would allow us the flexibility if we desired to place ai mobile home on it while we build our final home. We can't do that with how iti is now. We have no intention ofs subdividing it or turning iti into a mobile home park. Ifwe went that route it would be while we build our home. The last two years wel have been transient living with family  and not been able tol live on the land that we purchased. We want to get our family out there. David Underwood "So thei mobile home would be gone once you! built the home?"  Mr. Herring Yes, that would be thej plan. Wel have no desire tol livei in ai mobile home forever. Wej just got done  living in a camper for 2 years. It would bet temporary."  There were no further questions. There was no one. rezoning request. the property. Second: David Underwood Approved: 4-0  Chair Eckman asked ifanyone from the audience would like to speak regarding the request.  Chair Eckman entertained ai motion toi recommend to thel Board ofCommissioners: approval or denial oft the Motion: Michael Williams made a motion to approve because this rezoning encourages agriculture use on  Chair Eckman shared that the County Commissioners will likely consider this request following their Legislative  Public Hearing scheduled for Monday, October 2, 2023 at 6:001 PM.  2    Chair Eckman introduced the second item on the agenda, ZA 23-09, a request by' Tony Mauldin to rezone: an approximately 6.79: acre portion of two parcels containing 10.34 acres from RA (Residential Agricultural) and R20 (Residential) to HB (Highway Business) located at: 39117 NE Connector, Albemarle.  Chair Eckman asked for County Staff to share the details.  Mr. Remsburg shared the following:  Irealized that Ihadi included as small measurement that I should not have and Mr. Mauldin can clarify ifI am right or not. Part oft thej property is zoned R20 and the rear portion is zoned RA and they are wanting to rezone approximately 6.79 acres ofit tol Highway Business. Iti is twoj parcels and thet two parcel together have 9.89 acres and according tol DOT thel Northeast Connector sees about 8300 vehicles per day and iti is currently used as Tony's Produce Stand which was permitted as al Rural Home Occupation. The permit was issued several years ago. Properties nearby are: zoned RA and R20. The Albemarle city limits are about 6501 feet south oft this property. Nearby areas in the city limits are: zoned R10 andi iti is alsoi in the Airport Overlay District area. This is located ina a Primary Growth Area per the Stanly County Land Use Plan but al lot of thel Northeast Connector is in the city  limits.  Mr. Remsburg displayed maps of thej property.  There is a second house near the driveway entrance. Thei idea is to cut around that house location and down the Northeast Connector iti is zoned R201 mostly about 200 feet off of the right of way. The request is to make it Highway Business and it does allow al laundry list ofwhat you would expect in this type of district. This is a general rezoning not a conditional zoning. You can always adjust thisi in your recommendation to the County  Commissioners. There were: none.  Chair Eckman asked if there were any questions for Mr. Remsburg. Chair Eckman invited Mr. Mauldin to speak in favor ofh his request.  Mr. Mauldin shared thei following:  Ihave had that store for a few years and) I did not realize that it was not commercial. They gave me commercial rates and when Ibuilt the store we had to do commercial plumbing, commercial wiring and Ihavel been running it fort two years. Iam 72 years old and I have someone wanting to lease it and run it. They cannot: run it on my property under an agriculture type thing sO we are going toj put it under highway business. The other part oft the land, Ihavel had a guy approach me wanting to rezone that half to put some storage buildings on and that would have to bel highway business also. We are not looking atl housing development, if anything iti is just storage sheds down there and then my store. I did not want to get the house involved in it because once you go commercial and you change it then you can't gol back and live ini it. Thati is the reason! I have left it. I have been there for two years and Ihave never had aj problem with anybody. Iwould like tol keep it going as aj produce market. Id don't havea  train of peoplei in and out at all times Ijust enjoy doingi it.  Chair Eckman asked if the board had any questions for Mr. Mauldin.  There were none  3    Chair Eckman asked ift there were any present to speak in favor or opposition to the request.  Larry Talbert shared the following:  My concerni is thei intersection ofTalbert Road. When you gol North on that road, you try tot take al left on' Talbert Road, the site lines on thel hilll behind iti is only 4001 feet from thet top oft the hill to thei intersection. Ify you put on your brakes there, the people coming over the top of the hilll havel had numerous accidents there. Ify you: zone this business, Tony says that he will not put al business int there but Id don't know whys you would want to: zone all ofthat if you are: not wanting to do anything. The safety oft that intersection is terrible. It takes 3001 feet according to Google to stop a car going 55 miles per hour. Youl have 399 feet to doi it right here. Iknow my tenant was driving on. July 4, 2019 ands shel had threel kids in the car andsl he was] pregnant and someone drove straight through and plowedi intol her and destroyed the car. She wasl hurt for six months. I went over and looked at that place really hard and that is a dangerous intersection. The connector) has double yellow lines so they know that the sight linei issue  exists. To add: more traffic to that area would be a disaster. Iam totally against it.  Mel Garder shared the following:  Thel last time I was in as scenario like this was in 1999.Ibelieve when they were putting the connector in and we had quite ai few residents showing up for the meeting. The consensus was that the connector was fine and itl has been a good road but itl hasl hadi its issues withj putting roundabouts in to correct traffic problems and deaths. That has been a good thing. Thet thing we all agreed on was that it would not be commercial or business because we did not want thatl kind of activity going on. We wanted it to bel low key and rural. Wet talked about ift they wanted toj put aschool in there then that would be fine down the road. Apartments, it would depend. The consensus with that group of people was that it would notl be commercial or business and wantedi it to remain that way. I have nothing against the fruit stand, Ih havel been down there a few times but Iv would ask you not to zonei it commercial or  business. There were none.  Chair Eckman asked ifthere was anyone else wishing to speak.  Chair Eckman entertained ai motion by the Board to recommend to the County Commissioners for approval or Motion: Michael Williams to recommend approval because the rezoning encourages growth along a major  denial of the rezoning request.  traffic corridor and iti isi in a growth area according to the Land Use Plan.  Second: David Underwood Thel Board discussed:  Tim Fesperman "I am al little concerned, not so much about the fruit stand or thej produce stand but the large area for the storage. I would like to see: more ofaj plan forl how many they are talking about and security, lights, cars in and out. We don't know anything about that. Ithink that bothers me that you could pass this and we don't really David Underwood' "Continuing on with that. All of this is available for storage if approved. Bob, how many other  know what would go in there. This is arural setting for something like that."  businesses are along here?"  4    Mr. Remsburg "At each end you will findi it but nothing in the central part is commercial that I am aware of.I know that Mr. Mauldin has gotten my attention and would like to say something else ift thel board would let him."  The Board allowed Mr. Mauldin to speak.  Mr. Mauldin "We have dump trucks running out of there all thei time. I have been living there for 27 years too. Whether I get this zoned commercial or not, this problem was there before. Wel have al lot of problems with these people coming through the roundabouts but Ihave never had an accident coming out ofmy driveway from the store. Iti is al hazard the way they fixed it on' Talbert Road but I cannot fix that whether iti is commercial zoned or not. Ihavel had a couple of people approach me about the land and build some storage buildings. I do not] know how many or any oft that and it may not even happen but while we were doing the: zoning I was going to doi it all at Bob Remsburg "II hinted tol Mr. Mauldin the possibility of doing a conditional zoning or something that was more limited and I don't know ifhe would be agreeable to that. Idon't! know that you are prepared to act on that sort of thing! but you can recommend denial and Mr. Mauldin can do whatever he wants or you can recommend approval with the motion that is on thei floor. I suppose you could tablei it or sendi it back tol Mr. Mauldin with a suggestion Chair Eckman shared that the motion is to recommend approval to the County Commissioners. He asked all  one time. Iti is just al little something tol lets some folks make al living. Iappreciatei it."  on what he should do."  those in favor of the motion to say "aye" and then those opposed.  Favor:1 Opposed:3 Motion Fails with that."  David Underwood "Ifhe wanted to come back and ask just for the one section then I would not have aj problem Mr. Remsburg "Asi its stands the Rural Home Occupation requires that the individual running the business must live on the property. Obviously ifhei is not running thel business it needs tol be reconfigured somehow. Whether he Chair Eckman stated thel Planning staff will consult with Mr. Mauldin to determine whether he wishes to move forward with the rezoning request. Ifthey do move: forward, this rezoning could be considered by the County Commissioners following al legislative public hearing at their meeting scheduled for Monday, October 2, 2023 at Chair) Eckman introduced the third item on the agenda, aj proposed Text Amendment to section 13.3 ofthe Zoning Ordinance and section 66-5 of the Subdivision Ordinance to define "Substantial Work" or Mr. Remsburg shared that due toj previously approved subdivisions, the question of substantial work became a conversation. He discussed that based on case. lawi itl has been al hard thing to nail down and some of the County Commissioners would like to see it defined. Some Commissioners indicated that they would liket to see certain things (infrastructure, roads, etc.) put ini fori it tol be considered substantial. Mr. Remsburg indicated that he has  leases it or sells it off."  6:00PM.  "Substantial Expenditure."  5    researched the topic some and that he foundi information fori it in thel Land' Use Law book. It was an online about common law vested rights and substantial expenditures. Mr. Remsburg touched on thei fact that thel book indicated that a construction site does not necessarily mean that substantial work has been done. Therefore, the Board needs tol be careful in considering if putting roads, water lines, etc. in is substantial. Mr. Remsburg discussed court cases where substantial work needed tol be considered. Mr. Remsubrg indicated he wanted to provide thel board with information regarding case law and that he came up with a quick definition of substantial work that could potentially be considered in the future. Ultimately, someone willl have to consider what substantial work is." The Board Members discussed the topic and potentially considering what substantial is byaj percentage of thet total cost oft thej project and that it would bel beneficial also tol Planning Staff. Thel Board was open tol bringing this topic back at thei next meeting. Mr. Remsburg indicated he would do: research about the percentage number based on the cost ofc construction. Research would be done on other counties to see how they go about this process. Chair Eckman introduced thel lasti item on the agenda, aj proposal to amend section 405 of the Zoning Mr. Remsburg shared that under the current ordinance manufactured homes are only allowedi in thel RA district and mobile home parks. Section 405 allows twol homes on ai two acre or larger parcel as long as one oft those homes is a manufactured home. Mr. Remsburg read the current language that is int the zoning ordinance and shared that this request came from the commissioners. Many counties say one primary structure per lot but there was ai time before this language and the ordinance allowed for threel homes regardless of what they were made ofa as long as there was enough space. This rule is exempt for bona fide farms but there must be ai farm use on1 the property and the workers must live ini the home. Mr. Remsburg indicated the board could consider adding language to the text amendment forl hardship cases sO that it could be approved administratively by staff. Mr. Remsburg told the board to think about this item and that they would circle back toi iti if thel board chose to dos sO. Mr. Remsburg shared there were easement issues currently in the county and that there would potentially be updates to that ordinance as well. The board discussed the difference between ai modular home and ai mobile home and also the ability fori individuals to put two mobile homes per three acre lot according to the newly adopted minimum lot size. Board members indicated that a second home may be OK, but only ift there is a site built or modular home on thej property and  Ordinance to require one parcel ofl land for each primary dwelling unit.  perhaps the property should be three acres not two. Chair Eckman asked ifthere was any further business to discuss.  There was none.  Chair Eckman entertained ai motion to adjourn. Motion: David Underwood Second: Michael Williams Approved: 4-0 Time:  Jay ckman R Clerk, Bobl  y  6