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081020 Planning AppealAugust 10, 2020 Special Meeting Zoning Appeal The Randolph County Board of Commissioners met in special session at 6:00 p.m. in the 1909 Randolph County Historic Courthouse Meeting Room, 145 Worth Street, Asheboro, NC. Chairman Darrell Frye, Vice -Chairman David Allen, Commissioner Kenny Kidd, Commissioner Maxton McDowell, and Commissioner Hope Haywood were present. Also present were County Manager Hal Johnson, County Attorney Ben Morgan, Deputy Clerk to the Board Sarah Pack, and Clerk to the Board Dana Crisco. Required social distancing was maintained throughout the meeting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting was livestreamed on Facebook The public could attend the meeting but the meeting room capacity was limited to 50 people. Chairman Frye opened the meeting and thanked the audience for their attendance. He said during the Public Hearing, anyone wanting to speak will have a chance to do so. He asked Ben Morgan, County Attorney, to explain what the guidelines are for the Board in hearing and making a decision on this appeal. Jay Dale, Planning Director, presented the request to appeal the decision of the Planning Board, as follows: COLLIN TOMLINSON, 6140 Cedar Square Road, has requested an appeal of the decision by the Randolph County Planning Board to rezone 4.09 acres located on Cedar Square Rd for TANYA RAYLE COOK, Jamestown, NC, New Market Township, Tax ID# 7737648137, Randleman Lake Critical Area, owned by Tanya R. Cook, from RA Residential Agricultural to HC CD Highway Commercial Conditional District. It is the desire of COOK to operate a contractor's storage yard for a hauling business for eight employees, eight dump trucks in a 20 ft. by 40 ft. building as per site plan. Mr. Dale explained that the proposed site would house 8 trucks (with 8 corresponding employees) as a garage/storage site only. There is a proposed building with a restroom as well. This is not a dispatch location. Ace Avant Concrete is approximately a mile up the road and the proposed site would house a sub -contractor of Ace Avant. Chairman Frye asked if the intended business exclusively subcontracts with Ace Avant. Mr. Dale said no, but that is their main contract. Commissioner Haywood asked if the trucks leave empty and come back empty. Mr. Dale said yes, this site would house the trucks only. Commissioner Allen asked if the Department of Transportation (DOT) required any permits of any sort. Mr. Dale answered that he did not think so. Chairman Frye asked if Ms. Cook would like to speak. Tanya Cook, 4162 Kivett Drive, Jamestown, said her business is not the only business on that road. Mr. Charles Bailey, is a trucker for Ms. Cook's business Tomcat Trucking. Mr. Bailey spoke on behalf of Ms. Cook. He said the site is 450 feet off the road. Some trucks will be parked on the side of the road but six will be in front of the building. The site will be gated 275 feet from 8/10/20 the road. This way, roadway traffic will not be affected by opening the gate. The building will be over 400 feet from the road. Chairman Frye asked how long Ms. Cook has been in business. She answered a little over ten years. Commissioner Haywood asked if the trucks would all leave the site in the same direction. Mr. Bailey stated that the majority of the time they would as they would be heading towards the Hwy 311 bypass. Chairman Frye asked if trucks had already been parking there. Mr. Bailey said occasionally a truck or two would be parked at the site. Ms. Cook said the adjoining neighbors to the right and left have no objection to the proposed rezoning. She has owned the site for two or three years. Commissioner Haywood asked if the driveway would be gravel. Mr. Bailey said it would remain as is; if anything was added it would be the same stone. Commissioner Frye asked if anyone opposed to the rezoning would like to speak. Leona Tomlinson, 6199 Cedar Square Road, lives across from the driveway of the proposed site. She is confused about who owns the property owner because the letter she has states Virginia Cranford is the owner. Tomcat Trucking has been in business since 2010. They run nine flatbed trucks that haul lumber in addition to the eight dump trucks mentioned in the rezoning request. The 800 square foot building will be large enough to perform maintenance on a dump truck. She suggests that 400 square feet is enough for a traffic office, including a bathroom. In two occasions in her experience managing a traffic office, dump trucks had fuel spills on the yard. There is a creek on the property that empties into Randleman Lake. It would be a disaster if fuel or other contaminants poured into the creek and subsequently the lake. She wonders why a trucking terminal has been approved in such close proximity to the lake. The area is a farming community and has narrow roads. She questions if a flatbed truck needed to be parked, it would be tempting to park on Cedar Square Road and this concerns her. The site is not visible from the road. If something goes wrong this could cost the County a lot of money. Another property nearby has had junk dumped on it for years and it seems that the County cannot do much about it. Previously, 80 junk cars were dumped on the property by Ms. Cranford's late brothers. The adjoining neighbors are family members. Mr. Jerome Davis is also an adjoining neighbor. She asked the Board to think about this request. Collin Tomlinson, 6140 Cedar Square Road, is the person who submitted the appeal. The property in the area is primarily rural agriculture. Cattle and crops are raised nearby. He was under the impression that there was a rural overlay district that was designed to maintain compatible land in rural areas. There are tractors and bicycles that use the road. There is watershed protection and there are watershed critical areas nearby. He spoke with the Tax Department and the loan officer for his mortgage at his bank. The Tax department told him that property taxes will not change based on the rezoning, but the loan officer said it may affect property values negatively. 8/10/20 He is concerned about the safety of surrounding agricultural areas. Ms. Cook says she does not plan to store chemicals on the property but he is concerned that there is potential for pollution. He said that there are at least 13 neighbors nearby that Ms. Cook had not spoken to. They were unaware of the original hearing until 2-3 days prior and he wonders why they were not properly notified of the hearing. Kirby Mazoo, 6257 Cedar Square Road, lives across from the property. Her biggest concern is safety while she is "weed eating" by the road. Cars speed faster than the 45 mph speed limit. There is a blind spot in front of her house which is where the driveway for the proposed site is. Cyclists frequently use this road and she is worried that an accident may occur. She said that when turning out of the driveway there is a blind spot. John Nurney, Jr., 6149 Cedar Square Road, lives across the road a little ways down from the proposed site. His main concern is the impact on property values. He does not want to see the property values decrease. Chairman Frye closed the Public Hearing at 6:25 p.m. after everyone wishing to speak had done so. Chairman Frye called Mr. Dale back to the podium. He clarified the type of rezoning and asked what a conditional district allows or doesn't allow. Mr. Dale said that it allows for only what was requested, such as the size of the building. Any changes would require an additional hearing. Commissioner Haywood asked if that included the trucks. Mr. Dale said that yes, they would be held to housing eight dump trucks only; any changes would involve an additional hearing. Commissioner McDowell said that flatbed trucks were excluded from the request and could not be housed at the site. Mr. Dale agreed. Chairman Frye asked about the distance of the site from the Randleman Lake watershed. Mr. Dale said the site is not in the watershed or a critical area. The only requirement is a fifty -foot buffer on either side of the creek. The proposed upgrades to the site are not planned within that distance. Chairman Frye asked if there was a neighborhood information meeting. Mr. Dale said no, that is typically reserved for subdivisions. Adjoining property owners received mailers and a sign was placed by the property. Adjoining property owners were notified in writing. Commissioner Kidd asked for the approved site plan to be shown on the screens. He clarified that any additional development would have to go through the same hearing process. Mr. Dale confirmed. Commissioner McDowell asked if it was a metal building and Chairman Frye asked if permits for the building were required. Mr. Dale answered yes to both questions respectively. 8/10/20 Commissioner Kidd asked the speed limit on the road by the site. Mr. Dale thinks it is 45 miles per hour. Chairman Frye said that Ace Avant has been a good business for the community. They've had no violations or issues. He asked who the owner of the site in question is. He also asked if the ownership of the property was dependent on the rezoning. Ms. Cook is the owner and in possession of the deed. Commissioner McDowell asked why the name on the notification letter was wrong. Mr. Dale said that sometimes there is a lag in ownership being updated on property records. Commissioner McDowell asked how Ms. Tomlinson saw the name "Virginia Cranford." She pointed out the name on a copy of the notification memo from Planning and Zoning. Mr. Dale said their information comes from the Tax Department. Mr. Bailey said that the property was purchased before the first rezoning hearing. Commissioner Kidd pulled up the Randolph County Geographic Information System website on his cell phone and confirmed Ms. Cook has owned the property since May of 2018. Chairman Frye said that the Planning Board heard this request and approved it unanimously. One of the Planning Board members lives in the community. He pointed out that this area has representation on the Planning Board. He said that there are conditions that are required and if those conditions are not met, there is a procedure to review the conditions. By accepting the conditional district rezoning, the property owners accept the conditions. This will not be continuous truck traffic all day long; trucks will leave in the morning and come back in the evening. Commissioner McDowell said that the conditions are put in place and must be followed. Any changes will require the process to start over. Commissioner Haywood said these situations are a tricky issue. It's a balance to strike between the needs of the property owners and businesses in the area. Business owners pay taxes too which helps to keep taxes down. This does not mean they are more valuable than citizens. She said that the situation is not ideal and the citizens have every right to hold the company to the conditions laid out in the zoning request. The citizens can certainly report if the conditions are not being followed. She believes it is a reasonable request. On motion of Haywood, seconded by McDowell, the Board voted unanimously to approve the rezoning request as consistent, reasonable and in the public interest as required by the Randolph County Unified Development Ordinance, the Randolph County Growth Management Plans and as required by North Carolina General Statutes § 153A-341 and 342. Commissioner Allen asked where the trucks are currently housed. Mr. Dale said Jamestown. Commissioner Allen asked if they would become Randolph County property and Mr. Dale confirmed that they would. Chairman Frye said there will be improvements to the property which will increase tax revenues. 8/10/20 Adjournment At 6:41 p.m. on motion of Allen, seconded by Haywood, the Board voted unanimously to adjourn. Darrell Frye, Chairman David Allen Kenny Kidd Hope Haywood Maxton McDowell Sarah Pack, Deputy Clerk to the Board 8/10/20