LINCOLNTON – It was a case of déjà vu for the Lincoln County Commissioners with two unanimously denied rezoning matters being returned to the board for deliberation as ordered by the Lincoln County Superior Court. Both rezoning requests were unanimously approved Monday night.
The first came before the board on Jan. 23 from Pace Development Group to rezone 113.27 acres on the west side of North Little Egypt Road to permit a subdivision with up to 199 single-family homes.
At January’s meeting, as reported by the Citizen, Commissioner Bud Cesena argued the request was unreasonable in that “vehicular trips will overburden the North Little Egypt Road corridor.”
Board chairman Carrol Mitchem questioned whether Cesena’s point of contention constituted a valid means for denial, asking aloud why commissioners hadn’t been rejecting rezoning proposals based upon their projected burden on the surrounding roadways in past cases.
Commissioner Cathy Davis added that approval of the request would also overburden the schools serviced by North Little Egypt.
The second rezoning request from Taylor Morrison Homes, LLC, came before the board last November. The applicant wanted to rezone 30.91 acres to permit a subdivision with up to 55 single-family detached homes for property located at the end of Creek Park Dr., west of North Little Egypt.
Rationale for the denial was due to limited access to the development. At the meeting, Commissioners Milton Sigmon and Anita McCall called to attention safety concerns presented by limiting access involving an existing residential street.
Cesena read a statement Monday night that he had approved by the county attorney to “keep us out of trouble.” He said that he’d been continually hearing from citizens regarding continuous growth in the Catawba Springs Township and that he sympathized and was frustrated as well, but that commissioners are bound by the laws of the State of North Carolina.
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