Burlington’s planning and zoning commission has endorsed a rezoning request that would allow two local companies to expand operations which are located near the interstate interchange for Alamance Road.
This request, which received the commission’s unanimous blessing on Monday, concerns 4.08 acres between Alamance Road’s intersections with Bonnie and Eric lanes that’s presently zoned for general business and medium density residential development.
According to materials which were presented to the commission that evening, this property comprises three separate parcels – two of which face Alamance Road. These parcels are currently home to Carolina Foundation Solutions and Carolina Basement Solutions, which lease the property from Chet Miller of CCM Equipment of Burlington. The third parcel, which fronts Bonnie Lane, presently belongs to another landowner who has negotiated its potential sale to CCM.
Lawson Brown, a local attorney in Miller’s employ, informed the commission that his client plans to purchase the Bonnie Lane property in order to foster the expansion of his two tenants. Brown said that, to facilitate these expansions, he has asked the city to place a “limited use” form of general business zoning on all three of the parcels. He added that the proposed limitations he has included in the request would restrict the site’s future use to professional offices, sales and services, and the outdoor storage of equipment, vehicles, and other materials.
“This is a rather straightforward request,” he proceeded to assure the commission on Monday. “We went back and forth with the staff between warehouse-type or some other type zoning, but [the limited-use option] absolutely was the best.
“The limited use proposed will, in fact, be the highest and best use of the property,” the attorney went on to note. “The proposed uses are consistent with the future land use plan for the subject properties and for surrounding properties.”
The commission’s members, for their part, were uniformly supportive of the applicant’s plans – as well as the “limited use” nature of the request. In fact, the commission’s chairman, Richard Parker, observed that the limited use option has become quite the fad since its debut by the city’s planning department earlier this year.
“Everybody seems to like the limited use,” Parker declared before the commission’s 7-to-0 vote to endorse the request to Burlington’s city council. “It’s just popping up more and more.”
