Planning board committee votes against ‘downzoning’

A Salisbury Planning Board committee voted Thursday against a “downzoning” of the Associated Asphalt terminal on Jake Alexander Boulevard.

The committee recommendation will go to the full Planning Board Jan. 9.

Meanwhile, a separate committee will meet at 3 p.m. Wednesday to consider possible zoning changes in a broader area of Jake Alexander Boulevard that includes the Associated Asphalt terminal.

So it’s possible that two committees will report to the Planning Board Jan. 9 with two different zoning recommendations for the asphalt terminal property.

Salisbury City Council, at the request of residents who have been fighting the asphalt odors believed to be coming from the terminal, asked the Planning Board to consider downzoning the company’s 9 acres from heavy industrial (M-2) to either light-industrial (M-1) or general business (B-6).

A downzoning would make Associated Asphalt’s operation non-conforming, meaning it could not expand.

Committee member Ken Mowery said the rezoning request, taken by itself, appeared to be spot zoning. Fellow committee member Jeff Smith agreed, adding he was uncomfortable with singling out one property owner while similar uses next to asphalt terminal would not be affected.

“I think it’s bad zoning,” Smith said. “... I think it’s bad planning.”

Voting against the downzoning were Mowery, Smith, Dee Dee Wright and Elaine Stiller. Andy Storey and Fred Dula were in the minority in the 4-2 vote.

Earlier, a smaller committee headed by Wright delayed any action on the planning staff’s proposal to rezone heavy-industrial districts (M-2) along this section of Jake Alexander Boulevard to either M-1 or B-6.

Senior Planner Harold Poole offered a rezoning proposal affecting properties from the Salisbury Mall area to the railroad tracks and just south of the tracks.

Poole recommended that the city rezone more than 20 acres of M-2 land north of the tracks to B-6 with a general development overlay, which would require site-plan review by the Planning Board before any future development.

Properties affected would include Associated Asphalt, the APAC asphalt plant, Concrete Supply Co., Patterson Paving, Ted’s Famous Chicken, Woodleaf Lanes and Morningstar Mini-Storage.

On the south side of the tracks, Poole suggested that M-2 properties change to M-1 zoning, including Southern States, Mike’s Transmission and Food Lion’s office.

Poole also recommended rezoning the U.S. Army Reserve Center from single-family and heavy industrial to public-semi-public (PSP).

Poole said the proposal would eliminate heavy industrial zoning in a “gateway” area to the city.

Storey and Smith said looking at the whole area, rather than Associated Asphalt by itself, made more sense to them. Poole said that’s why he brought it up in advance of the later vote on the Associated Asphalt downzoning.

But the committee members said they needed more time to look at the total proposal and accepted Poole’s recommendations only as information.

“This will be a precedent-setting thing,” Wright said, noting that her committee members seemed uncomfortable with taking action Thursday.

Steve Fisher and Mitch Reinheardt, residents of Milford Hills, sat in on the committee discussions Thursday. Associated Asphalt President Bill Kirk, Salisbury attorney Glenn Ketner Jr. and other company representatives also attended.

Downzoning Associated Asphalt’s property without compensation would take away some of the vested rights the company has in its Salisbury terminal, Ketner said. It would limit what Associated Asphalt could do in the future and take away from the value of the land, Ketner said.

All along, the company has contended that changing the zoning of its property would not address the odor problem, which it continues to try to eliminate.

Fisher argued, however, that the emission problem is a matter for zoning. Zoning is for the protection of property, to encourage the quiet enjoyment of one’s property and provide for compatible uses, Fisher said.

In this case, a neighbor to residential property owners has suddenly become an offensive neighbor, Fisher said. He compared the problem to a broken pipe.

A plumber first cuts off water to the pipe before trying to clean up the water, Fisher said. Likewise, residents want to prohibit Associated Asphalt from any possible future expansions and making the odor problem worse before waiting on the company to eliminate the smell.

Fisher says the company has expanded its operation from 1.3 million gallons of liquid asphalt to 4 million gallons since buying the former Chevron property in 1997.

“We want to cut the pipe off,” Fisher said. “Expansion, in our mind, has brought the problem to us.”

Kirk said after the meeting that storage capacity at the terminal has increased that much. But the increased storage capacity doesn’t mean that Associated Asphalt is moving more product or should be causing more odor problems than its predecessor, Kirk said.

The storage capacity simply gives the company more flexibility, Kirk said.