Planning Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I've called a meeting to order tab. If you'll call the roll present, present Jackson Gilbert here, Steve little here, present.

that Sharon Gray, Minnie Johnson-Stewart, and Charles McLaughlin will not be present.

All right. Thank you. You'll stand. We'll have our prayer. Mr. White.

Let us prepare our hearts. Most righteous Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you right now, God, for another opportunity to be in your presence. Lord, as we conduct our business on tonight, God, I pray that you will be in each and every one of our hearts and minds, God, and make sure that we put you and the people of this great county first, Father. And let us be reminded that there is nothing that we can do without you. And so we thank you right now, God, for any and everything. And may everything that we do and say on tonight be pleasing in your sight. In Jesus' name, amen.

Thank you. The minutes were sent out from our March 18th meeting. I'll give you a second to review those and take a motion to approve. Thank you.

Second the motion.

Thank you. This time I'll open for public addresses to the board. All those in favor of approving the minutes usually don't have to.

All right. Just asking.

I'll open for public addresses to the board. Seeing none, I'll close the public address, and we'll take our first item, Ben.

Thank you, Chairman. Good evening, everyone. We do have two rezoning requests this evening. The first one has been submitted by Mr. John Derwood Lawrence, Jr., And the request is to rezone 2.63 acres of his property. This is parcel number 55472. And it's located at Worthington Crossroads at the southwestern corner of County Home Road and Worthington Road. And the request is to go from rural residential to general commercial. Site location, again, at Worthington Crossroads, just south of the city of Greenville in the east of the town of Winterville, kind of right before you at the 43. You see the red line there is NC 43 south. Some site pictures, this is the location from County Home Road. You'll see right now it's just vacant farmland. And then this is from Worthington Road. This is looking back north of County Home Road towards Greenville. This is looking south on County Home Road. This is looking east on Worthington Road towards NC 43 South. And then west on County Home Road towards the town of Winterville. The other corners at this intersection, two of them have commercial or zone commercial and have commercial uses there now. You see there, Charlie's Grill, a convenience store, as well as a multi-unit commercial building. There's a church there as well as an auto repair on the other end of that building there. And the other corner directly across is currently residential. Some of the other uses in the area just north of the property is Alex Pawn Straw and that's zone general commercial. There's residents to the north of the property. A church on the other side of County Home Road, just north of the property. And just to expand on those a little bit further, you see the existing land use in the area, mainly to the west of that intersection. It's agricultural back towards Winterville with a couple of residences there on Worthington Road, as well as a cell tower. You'll see that brown kind of stub out there just to the west of the property. And then to the east, again, you had the two commercial on either side of that intersection, as well as a lot of residential on the eastern side of County Home Road. and those two blue square to the churches that are in the area. The future land use map currently designates this area as commercial crossroads. And the commercial crossroad designation, these are located at or around established crossroad communities. These areas have a high history of commercial development that serves a larger surrounding area. Appropriate uses include a mix of residential, public and institutional, and commercial uses. Non-residential uses can be located near residential uses with appropriate buffers. Where these are typically located within the county at Crossroad communities such as Bellawther, Delvor, Blackjack, Eastern Pines, Pactolus, Stokes, Worthington Crossroad, which we're looking at here tonight, US 264 and Old Washington Road, and US 264 and Old Pactolus Road. The uses in this designation is a mix of single-family detached homes, public and institutional uses, as well as commercial. There's some water access, but mostly on-site septic systems. The existing zoning in the area, everything out there is zoned RR Rural Residential, except again those two commercial uses directly across the intersection, as well as Alex Pondstraw, which you see at the top of the map there, is zoned General Commercial. The General Commercial Zoning District is primarily intended to accommodate a range of retail, service, office, limited wholesale, and moderate density multi-family residential uses in areas that have access to major thoroughfares and the necessary utilities to support such development. The county planning staff finds that this request is consistent with the Envision Pick County 2045 land use plan. The area requested for rezoning is designated as commercial crossroads on the future land use map, and there are several non-residential land uses in the area, including a convenience store, multi-unit commercial building, a landscape business and the two churches. Staff also finds this request is reasonable and in the public interest because their existing general commercial zoning directly across county home road and Worthington Road, and additionally, any future non-residential uses will require site plan approval prior to approval by planning staff. Again, staff does recommend approval of this request. Public comments will now be entertained by the board. The planning board will then make a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners, who is currently scheduled to hold a public hearing on Monday, June 15th. And Chairman, I will turn it over for you. I'm happy to answer any questions as well.

Board, any discussion on this item? Hearing none, are we ready for a motion?

I'd like to go ahead and make a motion to approve this request. Let me get to the proper wording of that because I find it is consistent with the Envision Pitt County 2045 land use plan and is reasonable because the request is compatible with similar uses in the surrounding area.

I'll second that motion.

Thank you. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor of the motion, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, likewise. Thank you. All right, Ben.

The second rezoning request this evening has been submitted by Mr. Gary Cooper. This request is to rezone 1.7 acres of property currently owned by Felipe Garcia Ortiz and his wife. This is parcel number 01966, and it is located on the northeastern corner of the intersection of U.S. 264 East and Old Washington Road. And the request is to go from general commercial conditional district for the operation of auto repair services to general commercial conditional district for the operation of motor vehicle sales, new and used and auto repair services. So just to clarify, this property is currently zoned general commercial conditional district for that auto repair services. The applicant has requested to basically amend that zoning district to allow, in addition to the repair services, automobile sales. And just to provide a little bit history of this property before we get into our report, this property has been rezoned a few times by the Board of County Commissioners back in April of 2005. The property was rezoned from rural agricultural to light industrial. Per the minutes of that meeting, the property owner at that time did plan to operate a fencing business on the site. However, the rezoning request was not conditional and the property was never developed for that stated purpose. Back in February of 2020, some of you may have been on the board then, but the property was rezoned to General Commercial Conditional District for the operation of automobile repair service, automobile towing service, motor vehicle sales, and tire sales. The property was never developed for the proposed uses, and the property was sold. back in december of 2021 it was rezoned again to general commercial conditional district for the operation of automobile repair service which is the current zoning and even though the new owner proposed to operate a similar similar use due to the significant changes to the site plan The new owner at that time had to reapply for the new conditional district. And similarly, the site plan does have some major revisions from what we saw a few years ago, as well as that additional use of auto sales. That's why this is back before this board. But again, it's currently zoned general commercial conditional district for auto repair. Regardless of the decision of the board tonight and the board of county commissioners, that is the current zoning. So they're just requesting to add this additional use. So just to provide that clarification. Location, this is located on US 264 just east of North Gromsland Bridge Road before you get to the Beaufort County line. Some site pictures, this is looking at the site from US 264 east as well as from Old Washington Road. This is looking west back towards Greenville on US 264 and then east towards Beaufort County. And this is looking north on Old Washington Road. To give you an idea of some of the uses in the area, this is a residential use directly just north of the subject property, as well as some vacant land directly across the street of Old Washington Road. There is a church across the highway from the property. And then a little bit further up, U.S. 264, heading back towards Greenville, there are some commercial uses. Dollar General, as well as other non-residential uses, there's a church A multi-unit commercial. This proper actually has two of these buildings there. You see those both there. So some of the commercial. That is a trucking business as well as a stone product business. They're located directly on the highway. The existing land use in the area. On Old Washington Road, it is mainly a residential area. You see the property here is direct frontage on US 264. Otherwise around it, it's kind of undeveloped, as well as residential uses across the highway. You see the red there, it's that Dollar General. And then the blue are the churches there in the area. The Envision Pitt County 2045 Future Land Use Map, just like our previous rezoning, it is designated as commercial crossroads. Just a quick reminder, these are located at or around established crossroads communities. The areas have a history of commercial development that serves a larger surrounding area. Appropriate uses include a mix of residential, public, institutional, and commercial uses, and non-residential uses can be located near residential uses with appropriate buffers. I won't go through all the locations again, but again, the mixes, the uses are a mix of single family, detached homes, public institutional and commercial uses with water access and mostly on septic systems. The existing zoning, you see again, the property is currently zoned general commercial with that conditional district for auto repair. Otherwise you see the general, the dollar general there in red across the highway. Um, but rural residential and RA rural agricultural are the major zoning districts in this area. The general commercial zoning district is primarily intended to accommodate a range of retail, service, office, limited wholesale, and moderate density multifamily residential uses in areas that have access to major thoroughfares and the necessary utilities to support such development. And as a reminder, a conditional zoning district does allow for the approval of a proposal for a specific use with reasonable conditions to ensure the compatibility of the proposed use with the use and enjoyment of neighboring properties. And again, the proposed use is motor vehicle sales, new and used, as well as auto repair services. As required with the conditional district, a sketch plan was submitted with the application. Um, the applicant basically used the previous site plan from the previous, um, owner after their reasoning was approved and kind of overlaid some of the changes on there. So the rezoning area there highlighted with that red dash line, the proposed office and service bays, they are proposing two to three bays for the repair work parking. Um, and the driveway location highlighted there in the different shades of gray. The required proposed buffer yard, which will have screen requirements that we'll get to in just a second. The proposed display area for the vehicles that are for sale and a proposed sign. And again, if this is approved, a more professional site plan must be submitted to our office for approval prior to any permits being issued. A sketch plan is always required at this stage. So Pitt County planning staff does find that this request is consistent with the Envision Pitt County 24 or 2045 comprehensive land use plan. The area requested for rezoning is designated as commercial crossroads on the future land use map and is currently zoned General Commercial Conditional District for the operation of automobile repair. Additionally, the subject property has frontage along a major thoroughfare that's U.S. 264 East and is within close proximity to several non-residential land uses along U.S. 264 East, including a Dollar General, two churches, a trucking business, and a stone products business. Staff also finds this request is reasonable and in the public interest because the subject property is located within close proximity proximity to several non-residential land uses. And additionally, the site is located along a major thoroughfare is designated as commercial crossroad on the future land use map. There is limited residential development directly adjacent to the site and because the proposed uses will be screened from adjacent residentially zoned or use properties. Staff does recommend approval of this request with the following additional conditions. The lot shall not be maintained, used or operated as a salvage yard for storing, keeping, buying or selling wrapped or wrecked, scrapped, ruined or dismantled motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts. No more than two unlicensed used motor vehicles which cannot be under operated under their own power may be kept or stored on the property for a period of 15 days or more. A no zoning compliance permit shall be issued until a site plan prepared in accordance with Appendix B of the zoning ordinance is submitted to Pitt County Planning for review and approval. The site plan shall include but is not limited to the following. And this property is located in the highway corridor overlay, so there are some additional requirements as opposed to other areas of the county. Some of these include a 50 foot wide highway buffer yard along the property line adjacent to US 264. side and rear Buffy yards, not less than 20 feet wide where the proposed development of butts, a residential zoning district or residential use lot, a landscaping plan is required and shall include a combination of trees, shrubs, grasses, and other ground cover in accordance with the requirements of section 74 of the zoning ordinance and accessory building as well as parking and loading areas shall not be located within any of those required buffer yards. Required parking spaces, access drives, and loading areas shall be paved and maintained with concrete, asphalt, or similar material of sufficient weight and thickness and consistency to support anticipated traffic volumes and weights. A soil erosion and sedimentation control plan prepared by an engineer shall be submitted for development of this property that results in land disturbance over one acre. The site must comply with the pick County stormwater ordinance for nutrient control, nutrient loading and peak flow calculations shall be reviewed and approved prior to any improvements involving more than one half acre. The site must comply with any emergency management requirements for fire protection, all required permits from pit county inspections to occupy any proposed structures and comply with any applicable environmental health requirements for wastewater disposal and finally they must obtain a driveway permit from ncdot and comply with all requirements for access to the subject property and just a quick note we did send the sketch plan to dot for their review they made us aware that one of their main common statements is that a driveway permit will be required but also if In 2028, that intersection is scheduled to be closed. They are proposing to do a safety project called RCI. It's a reduced conflict intersection. So at North Groms and Bridge Road, travelers would have to turn right and then do basically a U-turn. You might have seen these in other areas, so they wouldn't be able to turn left out of North Groms and Bridge Road. So partially this property is going to be, let me show you on the map just to give you an idea, the intersection... here at the highway is gonna be kind of closed off and a cul-de-sac will be installed. And again, traffic will have to bulb out there, but they still will have the frontage on US 264, which kind of supports staff's recommendation. Just wanted to pass that along since DOT did mention that in their comments. So planning, our public comments will now be entertained by the planning board. The board will then make a recommendation to the commissioners who again are scheduled to hold a public hearing on June 15th. And I will turn it over to you.

Thank you, Ben. Any requests for public comments for this one? No. The board, any discussion?

And the applicant is here. If you have any specific questions for him, he didn't sign up to speak, but is available if you have any questions.

So I do have a question, Chairman. The proposed highway changes, is that going to still allow the driveway that they're proposing?

Yes, the driveway they're proposing, is off of Old Washington Road, which DOT has no problem with. They just said they have to get their standard driveway permit. They just want to make us aware to relate to the applicant. And again, they said that's scheduled for 2028, which we all know how DOT projects can go or get delayed. So staff didn't feel like that would adjust our recommendation at this time. But since DOT made us aware of that, we did want to pass that along to the board. So our recommendation didn't change based off of that. but there is potential for that access to be closed off the highway. There's still access to that subdivision there, but we did want to pass that along as DOT is working on some of the safety products on the highway.

So, and just to be clear, if that were to construct a word to occur, would a potential customers be allowed to access it from two 64 or will they have to go through, they would have to go through that subdivision, that residential area.

They wouldn't have direct access, um, from us to 64 if that were to happen. Wow. Okay. Yeah.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

And Mr. Chairman, I have one more question. Um, The last time it was approved for general commercial for car repair service, that business never did come to fruition?

No, sir. Two owners ago, they started, and honestly, they kind of turned it into a junkyard, which is why we included that condition to not allow that. We had them clean that up and they eventually sold it because they just didn't have the funds to develop it like they wanted to on their site plan. Then it changed hands to the current property owner who rezoned it for that specific use of auto repair. He, for whatever reason, decided to put it on the market. It's been listed for a while now. New potential property owner just happens to want to do a similar use. But the proposed changes to the site plan and adding that specific use of automobile sales, that just was basically a revision modification to what was allowed there currently. So we weren't allowed to permit that without getting approval by both the planning board and board of commissioners.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Mr. Chairman, I did have one question. You said that the applicant is here?

Yes, sir. Mr. Cooper? Yes.

Good evening, Mr. Cooper. You're aware of the additional conditions that they have recommended? Yes, sir. Okay. Do you think that you would have any problem with any of these additional conditions, meeting those conditions?

One of the biggest concern is the go take the assets away from the highway. Um, but then as I was looking, he was going through the whole list is a whole lot of stuff that I didn't know anything about, um, the added on stuff. So I do need a copy of that so I can dig deeper into it because it seemed like it's going to be a costly project and then you want to take away my assets forward. So it's a lot of stuff that I need to think about and I'm glad I came because now I could see, all of the requirements.

Okay. That's fair. All right. Thank you, Mr. Yes, sir. Thank you.

And just to clarify for staffs, uh, the process with this, we propose the conditions, um, and we've taught, we met with Mr. Cooper and kind of went over some of with the screening and whatnot. Um, and then staff does their review for the staff report. We present those to the planning board. If there's any other additional, um, conditions that y'all want to propose, we include that with the, the applicant basically has to sign a consent to conditions. That's presented to the Board of Commissioners in their full agenda packet. So that's kind of how we propose those. Staff does a review. We'll type them all up pending any changes because this board could take off or add hours of operations or anything like that, which in this situation we didn't see was appropriate. But if this board did have other conditions, we would add that to what we already have. We'll get them typed up. Applicant has to sign off on that. Then we include that in the applicants, the whole package to the commissioner. So it also gives the applicant in this situation time to make sure. I'm not sure if he has a contingency or what to buy the property pending this rezoning request, but it might be something where he reviews that and determines that. But that month between the two meetings kind of allows that due diligence both to review that for the applicant and give them an opportunity to sign that because we do require that when it goes to the commissioners that they have signed off on the consent to conditions.

I got a question for you. Yes, sir. Are they going to be able to turn right off the Washington Highway until this, or is it going to be closed completely? I got DOT sent me their proposed.

The PIO can put that on the screen. So that's kind of a design of these RCI, again, reduced conflict intersections. Since you won't be able to turn right out of Grimes and Bridge Road there just to the west. You won't be able to turn left, excuse me, you have to turn right if you want to go left towards Greenville. So you'll have to enter here and wait for traffic to go by and then you have this bulb turnout right here which allows you to turn, get up to speed and then merge over. So it's reducing the ability to turn left onto the highway. And these are projects that DOT is just doing throughout. I believe they're proposing one at NC30 as well as potentially Ramshorn Road, I believe, on 264. So again, from the highway, there will be no access, if this happens, to the site. So again, that was not supposed to start until the fall of 2028, that process of acquiring any land they need to. So that's not even a construction date. And like I mentioned earlier, some of these projects get pushed back or otherwise. So staff didn't feel like that should be a deterrent without knowing for sure that was going to happen because DOT couldn't even guarantee if that makes sense. But as proposed and planned was their words, there will be no access through or off of the highway at all. They would have to go through that residential area.

I'm seeing wrecks because when that car comes out to the right and goes down and tries to make a circle back up, Yeah, we say a whole lot smarter than I am.

Yeah. And that's just one of the I think that's their initiative between all the roundabouts we've seen and the four way stops we've seen everywhere. Instead of putting a stoplight up on the highway at North Groms and Bridge Road, they find these safer. And they have the numbers to support it. I don't want to speak for them, but eliminating that opportunity to turn left onto the highway at these intersections, if you think about it, you're only looking at traffic coming one way, and you can go up and only deal with traffic coming the other way. So again, they have the stats and support for it. DOT project, not county project, so just to clarify that as well. But if that does happen, that would eliminate the traffic from the highway completely for the site.

It might be another fire tower project.

Possibly, right?

This is similar to the projects that we've seen

that are actually on Highway 11 now going towards Kenston. Yes, sir. They seem to function very well. I wonder how this would function here. But my concern was to make sure that the applicant was aware of all these things and that he had an opportunity to address and that there was some conversation there to make sure that he still wanted to move forward.

Yeah, and we actually met with him in Europe. Um, we met with him about three weeks ago and we had just heard that from DOT that morning of the day before. So we were able to relay that to him and he kind of had the same concerns, but I think at least to help him make a decision, which way he wants to go with this is my understanding, at least see if it's viable. Um, but it sounds like he does have something to think about as far as, as that goes.

Yes, sir.

If, if this, um, he chooses not to purchase this based on these, this conditional use is only good for this instance, right?

It would run with the property. So much like the previous property owner, if he sold it and Mr. Cooper didn't want to do auto sales, he just wanted to do auto repair. He could use a. Similar site plan. He could make some minor changes to what was proposed and go through without coming back before the planning board. But if somebody wanted to buy it and put a gas station, that's completely different. We'd have to come back before this board. And even if somebody wanted to buy it and just put a manufactured home on it, they'd have to come back before the board and rezone it back to one of those residential districts. So it's very site specific for those two specific uses. Yes, sir.

If it is, if the road work happens, I'm concerned that it would be bad for the business and bad for the neighborhood, both. But that seems like too far out and maybe too much of a possibility.

Your opinion there is exactly, I think, staff's thoughts that we had concern. I mean, not that we're in the business of proposing projects or anything like that, like an economic development department, but we just from a, reviewer of this type of business and project at that location with the potential DOT project coming in, we had the same concerns. And while we relayed that to Mr. Cooper as soon as we found out, You can see it from the highway, but again, access, he's going to have to make sure his clients can get in there. So again, had the exact same thoughts, but without knowing. If DOT was scheduled to do that next month, we might have felt different about it knowing that there was contracts in place for development of that roundabout or that RCI that maybe would have had a different recommendation. But without knowing and without DOT's real reassurance that it was definitely going to happen, we just didn't feel like that affected our recommendation.

Other discussion? Question. Do Mr. Cooper currently own this property?

No, sir.

So what do the current owner think about these changes and how it would impact? Once it's rezoned, he would have to come back to have it changed, for example, to residential.

So my understanding, Mr. Cooper, can verify that you may be purchasing the property, right? You wouldn't be leasing the property if this is approved. he would be purchasing the property, so he would then be the owner at that time. So the owner did have to sign a consent form allowing Mr. Cooper to apply for the rezoning. We do require that if it's not the actual property owner being the applicant. So the owner is aware that Mr. Cooper has applied for the rezoning, and my understanding is that this goes through and Mr. Cooper determines it's a good opportunity for him. He will then be purchasing the property at that time. If not, then the current property owner, if this is approved and Mr. Cooper doesn't purchase it, he would have done the legwork for him. And I guess the property owner could market it as approval for automobile sales and repair if that makes sense. So it would kind of run the land regardless of the ownership at that point in time.

Does the current owner of the property approve of this request?

I believe so just based off of the fact that he signed the owner's consent and he was also the one that applied for it whenever that last one was 22 or 23 for just automobile repair. So that was his intent at the time and what it's currently zoned for now. But for whatever reason he decided, I think he lives over in Washington, so I'm not sure if he found a different location and just put this on the market. But based upon him signing that owner's consent form, I would say yes. And like I said, he was the applicant of the previous rezoning for commercial for that automobile repair anyway.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to make a motion to approve this request given the ability for Mr. Cooper to go forward and make a good business decision whether this is actually good for him or not, but let us not be a block towards that goal. So I would like to approve this request. It is consistent with the Envision Pit County 2045 land use plan, and it is compatible with several uses in the area, even though it is a divided highway and it may be involved with that.

Thank you. Motion? I second that motion. Thank you. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor, let it be known by saying aye. Aye.

Any opposed?

Likewise. Thank you. Passes. All right. Thanks, man. Mr. Hill.

Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Lots of good discussion tonight on that last reason and good questions. So just wanted to next item on the agenda is the informational items included in your agenda packet. bring you up to speed on some actions taken by the Board of Commissioners since your last meeting. Perda Vida Fund LLC rezoning request went to the Board of Commissioners in April. That was unanimously approved. Also, the Bobby Tripp rezoning request, which You'll have to reach back in your memory quite a few months ago. It was back in October of 25 that that request came before you. And if you'll remember, there was questions about groundwater issues caused by the mine. The reason it took so long to get before the commissioners was Mr. Tripp paid for a groundwater hydrologist to look at the water impacts that the mine may cause and had a report prepared prior to it going to the Board of Commissioners in April. That report showed that there was very limited impacts to the existing wells in the area just given the depth of those wells compared to the depth of the mine. So the Board of Commissioners did approve unanimously the request to have that rezoning approved. So That information is included in your packet as well as an article regarding that from the Daily Reflector. Also included in your packet is the March and April monthly reports for the planning department as well as the subdivision activity reports for both March and April. I will point out that The two months combined, we had two construction plans and one final plat plan approved for subdivision activity. And I hope you guys are getting the information that we discussed that you guys need as far as that goes as well. If you have any questions about any of those reports, please let me know. Also, there is three different articles in there regarding the solar farm. which was denied by the Board of Commissioners. I think I reported on that at your last meeting, as well as information pertaining to the City of Greenville's Board of Adjustment actions. So if you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer it. Otherwise, that's all I have, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Jonas. Any questions? Any other items of business from the Board? Seeing none, I take a motion to adjourn. Thank you. All those in favor, we stand adjourned.

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