County looks at rezoning land

Thursday, August 16, 2007 — The Stanly County Economic Development Commission (EDC) has approached landowners, Henry Farmer Family LTD Partnership and Dennis Holbrook & MDS Smith Group, with the idea of making a request to the county’s Planning and Zoning Board for the potential rezoning of their property. Stanly County EDC Executive Director Robert Van Geons said this is the first of what may be a series of EDC-initiated rezonings. “It may come as a surprise, but Albemarle, with the exception of the Brookwood Executive Park, has almost no industrially zoned property that is available for development and as Stanly County grows, it’s important to maintain area with potential to develop. Right now, Albemarle has nowhere to grow,” Van Geons said.The three tracts of land the EDC hopes will be rezoned after a public hearing at the Planning and Zoning Board meeting Monday night equals 311.75 acres and is located on US 52 south of Albemarle. More specifically, the land is about 1,700 feet south of the intersection of Ross Drive and lies east of US 52 to Henson Street.“The overwhelming bulk of the land is behind Wal-Mart and Ingles,” Van Geons said.The rezoning would change the land from RA and R20, residential single-family and residential agricultural to M2, heavy industrial. “This rezoning attempt has been initiated to provide industrial opportunity, expand the local nonresidential tax base and to create jobs,” Van Geons said.“The bottom line is - you can’t market a site without having the proper zoning in place. This is the first step in trying to develop an area.”Once rezoned, the EDC will market the land to regional and national site selection consultants who will be on the lookout for industries that may want to locate in the county.“The site could handle either one to two large users or, with the addition of a road network, could handle numerous users - but without the proper zoning we can’t have either,” Van Geons said. The EDC has worked with City of Albemarle officials, who brought in a consultant group, Sanford Holshouser Business Development Group, to identify areas for potential industrial growth in Albemarle. “While several sites were identified, this is the first great-potential site we will focus on,” he said. “I also hope to work with other communities on sites that are appropriate for non-residential development.” Van Geons said the ideas for developing the land agrees with the city and county land use plans and is eager to see the next steps of the development occur. City of Albemarle Administrator Raymond Allen said though the city does not have a “formal role” in this rezoning request, as the land falls outside the city’s jurisdiction, the city is hopeful the outcome will bring new industry to the area.“One weakness that has been idenitifed is the lack of vacant land zoned for industrial use, so what the county is considering would obviously be a great benefit not only to the county, but to the city as well; it would attract industrial uses that would provide higher wage jobs and increase the tax base,” Allen said. The Dennis group owns about 100 acres of the property, Tony Dennis said. “It (the land) could become shopping or light industrial, we’re planning a road through it to follow the property lines and come out on US 52. We’re trying to get some kind of industry to come to town, close to a four-lane road and we’re trying to look forward a little bit,” Dennis said.Henry Farmer Jr., who is part of the second group of landowners, said while nothing specific is planned for now, the possibility of a road network would allow for positive development. A public hearing regarding this potential rezoning will be Monday night at 7 at the Planning and Zoning Meeting and Stanly Commons. More information, including maps of the land, can be obtained at the Planning and Zoning office.