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Local News - April 2002 |
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U.S. 321 corridor development eyed By ANDIE LEATHERMAN, LTN Staff Writer April 24, 2002 - The county’s planning board is considering adopting a formalized plan to guide development along the U.S. 321 corridor. The plan includes additional interchanges, a 100-buffer zone and preservation of agricultural land. City and county planning board members met with Lincolnton and Lincoln County planning department staffs Monday at the Citizens Center to consider the plan. The plan was written in 1998 with input from both the city and county. Lincolnton’s city council adopted it in 1999. Some 35 percent of the highway is within the city limits. The county postponed making a decision because it was in the midst of creating a land use plan, officials say. Monday’s meeting came at the request of Commission Chairman Jerry Cochrane. The plan calls for supporting interchanges at both Bethel Church and Summerow roads. Bethel Church Road is in the northern portion of the county and Summerow is in the southern portion. Though the local plan encourages the two interchanges, the Department of Transportation’s Traffic Improvement Plan does not include either area, meaning none is likely soon. Rezoning to industrial or commercial use is also unlikely until development pressures mount, county officials say. Sewer services to the interchanges would encourage development, according to Steve Gurley, Lincolnton’s director of planning. Under current county zoning regulations, buildings must sit at least 100 feet from the highway, though parking can be within that buffer. The plan would eliminate parking in the buffer zone. The plan calls for the city and county to study the creation of agricultural districts. The district would be a legally recognized area restricted to farming. The area would be formed voluntarily by one or more land owners. Government incentives such as differential assessment, protection from anti-nuisance ordinances and protection from adjacent non-agricultural development would be granted. “There is a great need to preserve aesthetics along the corridor. One way is to preserve agricultural land,” Gurley said. Monday’s meeting was for information only. No action was taken on the plan though county planning board Chairman Jerry Geymont asked members to study the plan. The board will consider adoption at a future meeting. “We need to be in harmony,” Geymont said.
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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News |
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