News-Record.com

The board approved the closing of a 20-foot utility easement off Crowley Road near Charnel Lane.

Despite the planning staff's recommendation that the board deny the request, board members unanimously approved a rezoning on 3.2 acres along Farrington Road from agricultural to light industrial zoning. The property, owner by Ruth Holt and Gary Mitchell, is located on the south side of Farrington, approximately 600 feet west of Sandy Ridge Road.

Cox Landscape Management, a Charlotte-based company that already has about 40 employees in the area, plans to put a building on the property. There will be no retail operations on the site.

The board also unanimously approved a request to rezone 18.53 acres from agricultural zoning to RS-40 for development of a single-family residential subdivision at the end of Frueh Drive south of Bob's Court and east of McPherson-Clay Road. Within the last year, the surrounding area has begun to transition from farmland and vacant property to low-density residential projects.

The development on the property would comprise 8 single-family lots.

Then, the board got to the first debate-producing item on the agenda - a 180-acre subdivision plan on the south side of County Line Road and west of Beeson Road. Plans for the development show up to 170 lots, with a density of 0.89 units per acre.

Planning staff recommended approval of the request, but neighbors protested the rezoning, expressing concern about the density of the project. Their primary worry seemed to be that there is not enough water in the area to support more than 100 four-bedroom homes on the property, which is crossed by Reedy Fork Creek and includes about 47 acres of open space.

Neighbors also worried about increased traffic, road access and issues with drainage, erosion, wells and septic tanks. Yet the planning board voted 5-2 in favor of the project.

Board members also voted in plans for a Dollar General and two small retail shops on the south side of Hicone Road west of Eckerson Road. The 9,000-square-foot Dollar General store will have a brick face to match the nearby CVS and will be bookended by a pair of 1,200 to 1,300 square-foot retail spaces.

The final agenda item at last night's meeting was a request for a three-year renewal for a minor landfill (basically a stump-dump) at 5548 Wild Turkey Road in Clay Township. I had to leave the meeting to write today's story about Proehlific Park before this came up, but I checked in with planning staff later and heard that a motion to approve the request failed after a 3-4 vote.

The board next meets Nov. 14 at 7 p.m.