By Mark Wineka

Salisbury Post

The Salisbury Planning Board approved Tuesday a five-lot subdivision plan in the Morlan Park Road area.

The 2-acre site, which includes a house, is located between Cross Drive and Foster Lane. The proposed subdivision would have five residential lots, including one with the existing house.

Foster Lane would be used to access three of the lots; Cross Drive, the other two.

Cross Drive is a non-maintained public right of way now used as a driveway access to two existing homes. The developer, Joe Mathis, plans to improve Cross Drive using the existing public right of way, and he has asked the city to accept it for maintenance.

Mathis would extend Cross Drive roughly 200 feet using a 20-foot-wide ribbon of asphalt to match the existing Cross Drive.

The subdivision ordinance allows the Planning Board to grant relief from the usual street standards for short extensions of existing streets.

Mathis actually gained approval for this same subdivision in January 2005, but construction never started and his previous approval ran out.

In another matter Tuesday, the Planning Board approved a minor revision to the Phase I site plan for Drummond Village, which is being developed in the 2800 block of Stokes Ferry Road.

The property is zoned residential development “A,” which allows the developer to establish minimum setbacks. Once setbacks are determined, the Planning Board makes a recommendation and City Council must approve the proposal.

The previous site plan approved in 2002 required front building setbacks in Phase I to be a minimum of 15 feet from the street and a maximum of 20 feet.

Developer Eric Wood asked that front setbacks in Phase I simply be 20 feet, which will allow Phase I to be consistent with the remainder of the subdivision.

Council approved revisions to the rest of the subdivision Dec. 19.

In one more matter, the Planning Board was supposed to consider a rezoning request Tuesday, but Don and Betty Bills asked that it be deferred until the board’s Feb. 13 meeting.

The couple want to rezone a vacant, .75-acre parcel at the intersection of Wood Avenue and Jake Alexander Boulevard West.

The present zoning is limited office/institution. The proposed zoning is business retail.

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263, or mwineka@salisburypost.com.