BC 2006 09 05 RECESSED - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

I I I September 5, 2006 (Recessed Meeting) Page 89 certain conditions are made of the petitioner in order to apply for a conditional district rezoning. He said this petition does not state a definitive use for a large segment of property as required under Section 13- 11, subpart 2 as follows: "The petitioner will describe the exact land use proposed for the CD district". To state that parcels will be used for future office/corporate facilities or future commercial support facilities, he said is too ambiguous and vague to meet the requirements under the conditional district rezoning. He said this petition, as it is presented, does not meet the standards for a conditional district rezoning and should be denied. He said pages 3-16 of the Cabarrus County Zoning Ordinance makes several statements that show this property should not be rezoned to General Commercial. The Zoning Ordinance states: "The primary purpose of this zone is to provide locations for large scale commercial activities. This level of commercial activity usually draws clientele regionally as well as from nearby neighborhoods, requires siting on major thoroughfares, and requires relatively large scale off-street parking. This zone will accommodate a wide variety of office, retail, and lodging land uses. General Commercial may border the other less intense commercial zones or either of the two industrial zones. A General Commercial zone may border a higher density residential zone but care should be taken to ensure a buffer is between the two". He said this project will put GC property in an area that has no major thoroughfares. The roads in this area he said are secondary farm roads and they are already overcrowded and cannot support any additional traffic flow without creating more traffic congestion and the possibility of additional wrecks. Although the Zoning Ordinance plainly states that a GC property must be sited on major thoroughfares, he said Mooresville Road is currently listed as a maj or thoroughfare in Cabarrus County, which must be an error because the road does not meet all the criteria. He said later Mr. Colin Nolin will provide details as to why Mooresville Road is not a major thoroughfare. On a practical level, he said all the people in the Coddle Creek area will vouch for the fact that Mooresville Road really is an overcrowded, narrow and dangerous road. Because there are no legitimate thoroughfares at this site, he said this rezoning petition should be denied. He said the Cabarrus County Zoning Ordinance also states GC property should not border residential property unless the property is of a high density, and only then if sufficient buffers are put in place. He said the property up for rezoning is surrounded by AO property. These properties he said are the least dense and most restrictive in the County. To allow GC property to border AO property, he said would be a clear violation of the Zoning Ordinance. He reported the last planning staff report presented to the Planning and Zoning Board stated "The intent statement of the General Commercial district does not support approval of this petition based on adjacent zoning on three of the commercial areas six sides". The current Planning Staff Report, he said completely ignores this zoning violation. After looking at the Northwestern Cabarrus Draft Land Use Plan, he said County planning staff decided to rezone all the property that will abut the proposed MDR component of this project to AO. He said to site MDR property in this area is a violation of the intent on the northwestern area draft Land Use Plan and to allow MDR property to abut AO property will result in a decrease in property values to the existing residents. One of the primary reasons that the North Carolina (NC) General Statues allow counties to enact zoning, he said is for the purpose of preserving the value of existing property and the proposed rezoning will not accomplish this requirement. He said this project will take away value from all the surrounding properties and since the NC General Statues state zoning should protect the value of properties, the only conclusion to be made is that this rezoning should be denied. He said the proposed MDR development will put additional strain on the school system and according to the Adequate Public Facilities worksheet, prepared by Cabarrus County Schools, shows the capacity of elementary schools in our area functioning at 128 percent. When this proposed development is completed, he said the elementary schools will be functioning at the following capacity: elementary schools - 214 percent; middle schools - 117 percent; and high schools - 120 percent. He reported these figures were provided by the school board. He asked how more residential growth can be justified under the current circumstances. Next, he said North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) reported many improvements to the secondary roads surrounding the subject property will be required. He said a copy of the map of Wayne Brothers' Corporate Headquarters and Development was included in the Board's packets and shows the improvements along Mooresville Road. He said Ritchie Hearne, NCDOT District Engineer, acknowledged in a letter that is also included in the Board's packets, there are no deeded right-of-ways on this road and the required improvements will require the developer to purchase additional right-of-ways. He said the improvements required NCDOT can only occur if the affected property owners grant a right-of-way to Mr. Wayne. He reported he spoke with each property owner and all the property owners have refused to grant a right-of-way. He said the property owners are present and asked each