By Hugh Fisher
hfisher@salisburypost.com
KANNAPOLIS ó Members of the Kannapolis City Council closed a loophole in the city’s Unified Development Ordinance Monday, placing more restrictions on future development of mini-warehouse and self-storage units.
Assistant Planning Director Ben Warren said there had been a sharp increase in requests to construct new mini-storage units within the past six months.
Most of those requests pertained to property along Dale Earnhardt Boulevard.
In response to concerns over size and quality of such developments, Warren said the city staff recommended making mini-storage and self-storage warehouses a conditional use instead of a permitted use.
“This is to ensure each application is reviewed to determine (its) suitability,” Warren said.
City staff also wanted to clarify the ordinance to state that no mini-storage facility could exceed 3 acres in size.
“One thing we’ve seen lately is an attempt to circumvent the lot size,” Warren said. Property owners have been subdividing lots into 3-acre tracts to try to skirt the law, he said.
Council members approved the changes to the development code on a 6-0 vote. Councilman Darrell Hinnant was absent from the meeting.
In other business, the Kannapolis City Council:
– Unanimously approved a change in the UDO to permit changeable-copy signs, such as digital marquees, in select industrial and commercial districts.
According to Warren, the change stemmed from a request initiated by Franklin Heights Baptist Church. The church wanted to put up a digital marquee to advertise events, but found that zoning regulations would not allow it.
After discussion, Warren said, there was no compelling reason not to permit the signs in nonresidential areas.
Council member Gene McCombs asked Warren whether the zoning change would limit the type of display the signs could show.
“There are special standards in the ordinance already” to prohibit wildly-flashing messages or anything else that could distract drivers or cause a safety hazard, Warren said.
– Approved a change in wording to the UDO mandating paved secondary access roads to subdivisions of more than 100 units.
The unanimous vote came in the wake of concern that the current ordinance was not specific enough. The change means that unpaved access roads that do not meet Kannapolis street cross-section standards are not sufficient.
– Unanimously approved the closure of Terrace Drive between Fairview Drive and Hillside Street at the request of property owners.
Hurst Distributors Inc. owns a number of plots along the section of road to be closed. Public Works Director Wilmer Melton said he believes there are plans to develop the land where the road to be closed is located.
– Tabled discussion of a lease agreement for a new Customer Service Center until the Dec. 8 council session.
The proposed 18-month lease of the former Fifth Third Bank building at 234 Dale Earnhardt Boulevard was put on hold after council members expressed a desire for a longer lease term option.
City Manager Mike Legg said he is confident he can negotiate a longer lease term with Atlantic American Properties, owner of the building.
The new Customer Service Center is slated to open near the end of February 2009.