Graham’s planning and zoning board put off any decision on a rezoning request from Dewey Brown, Jr. to rezone property at 1528 East Harden Street (NC 54 South) in order to allow a business to operate in a house on .73 acres beside Riverside Baptist Church.
The property owner wants to allow American Aquascapes and Water Gardening, which had been displaced from another property Brown owns just down the road (at the corner of NC 54 and Jim Minor Road) that is now being converted to a Sheetz gas station and convenience store, to set up operations on the property.
The existing zoning is R-18 (low density residential) and the proposed rezoning is B-2 (general business). Other zoning adjacent to the property are the church and single family residential and vacant land and, across the street, is the city’s waste water treatment plant.
However, it was noted that the landscaping business is already operating on the site, even though the requested rezoning has not been considered or approved by either the planning board or the city council.
City planner Cameron West told the planning board that the business had already been notified of its violation of Graham’s ordinances by setting up day-to-day operations without obtaining the necessary rezoning for the site.
However, the following day, when the newspaper requested a copy of the letter, West said it had not actually been sent, yet, but a draft had been prepared advising Brown, the property owner, that he could incur a $100 a day fine if the business continued to operate without rezoning approval.
The planning board normally doesn’t consider agenda items on matters when the property owner or someone representing him is not present, and they did not make an exception for Brown’s rezoning request.
The rezoning matter will recur on the planning board’s agenda for its August 18 meeting.
