By Mark Wineka
Salisbury Post
Sacred Heart Catholic Church took a big step Tuesday toward its plans for a new church building, school and parish hall when Salisbury City Council approved rezonings for its 107.5 acres off North Jake Alexander Boulevard.
Gray Stout, architect for the church’s building plans and a parishioner, said he has spent 15 years on the church building committee, and the church is now ready to embark on “a wonderful project.”
People will be able to live, work, play and worship on the total site, Stout noted.
Sacred Heart has long been located at 128 N. Fulton St.
Council’s action Tuesday essentially took two large parcels that made up the 107.5 acres off North Jake Alexander Boulevard (near and opposite Isenberg School) and created five parcels, while also changing some of the base zoning and placing a conditional use overlay over the entire site.
The northernmost parcel ó deep into the site ó is where the church, school and parish hall would be located in a campus-type setting. Zoning for this 56.8-acre parcel will be Institutional Campus.
A small, 5.79-acre area of Neighborhood Mix (NMX) zoning will go along the front entrance to the property at Jake Alexander Boulevard ó the southern end.
NMX allows for high-density residential housing and limited-scale commercial uses. The maximum footprint of a building in NMX is 2,000 square feet. Two of the five parcels would be along the boulevard.
In the middle, the remaining 40 acres would represent two other parcels and be zoned GR6 ó general residential. It will allow 227 dwelling units total.
The church is having to follow the city’s new Land Development Ordinance.
Stout said the Land Development Ordinance was “a wonderful tool” for developing a tremendous piece of land. It provides for density variations on one site and is a good example of how the ordinance is meant to work, he said.
Mayor Susan Kluttz, Mayor Pro Tem Paul Woodson and Councilman Pete Kennedy said they were happy to see the church’s moving forward with its plans, and Kluttz said she was glad to see the Land Development Ordinance in action.
Under normal conditions, the church would be required to install sidewalks along Jake Alexander Boulevard. Instead, the church will be allowed to make a “payment in lieu of sidewalk” to the city, which can take that money and use it for sidewalk construction where it might make more sense.
The church’s payment, due by Oct. 1, 2009, will be $9,300. Senior Planner Preston Mitchell said the money will have to be used for installing sidewalk in “Pedestrian Benefit Zone No. 7,” which is in the same general area.
There’s a gravel road into the church site at present.
Site plans for the church buildings and the residential and mixed-use development phases will have to be approved by the city later.
In other action, council voted 5-0 to place a conditional-use overlay on properties owned by David and Phyllis Mullis at 303 and 309 W. Council St.
The move essentially subdivided one lot, which included two wood-framed, two-story duplexes, into two lots. Councilman Mark Lewis said it would allow the owners to sell one of the duplexes without having to sell both.
In the past, the owners have found it impossible to get conventional 30-year mortgages on the one parcel because it had two duplexes on it, Lewis said.
Councilman Bill Burgin said the Mullis case demonstrates the flexibility offered in the new Land Development Ordinance as compared to the old zoning ordinance.
Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263 or mwineka@salisburypost.com.