Rezoning issues a sign of growing pains

Janet Imrick

Randolph Hub 

ASHEBORO — Growing pains for businesses drove most of the zoning requests before the Asheboro City Council. At the March 6 meeting, council members approved all requests except one.

Mayor David Smith advised Daniel Carr, owner of Atlas Automotive, to continue working on an alternative for the vehicles at the business, an ongoing issue that has led to coding citations and complaints from neighbors.

Car repair parking shortage

Atlas’ car storage on North Randolph Avenue and Salisbury Street drew the most public comments of the night.

Real estate agent Jenna McKenzie acknowledged that Carr does not have enough room, and she asked to fully rezone the lot at the intersection and connect it to his shop via a private driveway in the back.

The lot is made up of two parcels owned by Brandon Allan, who used to run a repair shop there focused on classic cars. The front parcel is permitted to only hold cars for sale. The back parcel is strictly residential.

McKenzie explained that if Carr parks vehicles anywhere, he is in violation of the code. She said, “They’re between this rock and a hard place. We’re just doing our best to keep the city happy, keep the community happy.”

Planning Director Justin Luck told council members that code enforcement issued a citation in December.

Carr said his customer volume has grown beyond his current parking lot’s capacity. “We keep a lot of work moving in and out,” he said. “A lot of our cars do not stay in our lot, but we do stay two weeks booked out.”

McKenzie said Allan would build a fence on three sides and plant trees as a screen.

Neighboring residents spoke against rezoning. 

Owen George shared a petition, saying the cars have impacted their quality of life for years, and he believes open car storage would look unsightly and attract criminal activity. “I would like to suggest that open storage of automobiles may not align with the vision of what we have worked so hard for Asheboro to be and how we want to present ourselves,” he said.

Roseann Simms said she did not feel it was the right place for the business. She said the fence and tree screen would be “lipstick on a pig.”

Todd Dulaney said, “In terms of aesthetics, it’s subjective. This is a long fence at the entrance of our neighborhood. It may be better than what is there now, but it is still not in keeping with that neighborhood.”

The council denied the request, which council member Bill McCaskill said was with great reluctance. “It’s hard. This gentleman’s a hard-working man,” he said.

Council member Clark Bell said he remembered approving the first special use permit, and that “it was over great angst because of the proximity of the residences.”

Mayor David Smith told Carr to meet with Luck, Community Development Director John Evans and Assistant City Manager Trevor Nuttall to discuss his options. “Something that will allow you to thrive in this particular location and not be intrusive to the neighborhood,” he said.

Other business-related rezonings all approved

The city council approved all other rezoning and special use permit requests. 

- Steve Wishon brought the second car-related proposal of the night. He asked to make 4512 US 220 Business North industrial so that he can expand his towing and repair business QAR Holding, LLC.

Rick Borchert, the neighboring property owner, said his only issues were light and noise disrupting his household at night. Smith asked if Wishon would agree to keep night-time towing to his other lots. Wishon said he was open to only bringing cars there during daytime hours.

- Jamie Crumley of Harpley’s Meat Processing asked to expand the existing zoning for Manufacturing, Processing, and Assembly – Light Land Use at 467 & 471 East Dorsett Avenue. She said they got a state grant to build an attached storage building. She said they have so much product they had to resort to setting up shipping containers outside.

Neighbor Patricia Finegan Hunter said she wanted to make sure it did not exacerbate an ongoing issue with odors from the sewer system. Smith said that lift station is already overwhelmed. He asked water resources to review the situation.

- Tella Billboards received initial approval to install a new billboard on 1730 South Fayetteville Street.

- Evans presented a request to amend the residential zoning for land on Ridgewood Circle. Since 2018, Davidson Land Development has been trying to build townhomes. He initially got approval for 10 units but was denied a second request for 16 units due to the steep terrain around the creek.

Developer Lanny Hedrick said he will make the 10 townhomes all two-story with a smaller footprint further away from the flood plain. “It’s a challenging site,” he said, saying he was ready to move on with the project.

Thomas Tennison of the Robins Nest subdivision said he’s long felt the homes should not be built there, but he asked if they could consider a retaining wall. Hedrick said the slope will be between 1:1 and 2:1 once he finishes the grading.

- Finally, the city council moved forward on two annexation requests. City staff will set public hearings for BLL Holding, LLC on Lewallen Road and the Mark Braswell Property on Crestview Church Road.