By Scott Jenkins

Salisbury Post

With concessions from developers, Salisbury Planning Board put its stamp of approval Tuesday on a revised plan for Drummond Village, a proposed subdivision between Stokes Ferry and Earnhardt roads.

On Nov. 14, the board approved a rezoning request for 15 acres in the development from business-retail to residential. Eric Wood of Pilot Developers said the change was necessary because the original plan depended on the extension of Jake Alexander Boulevard, which now appears decades away.

But the board referred the revised site plan, which replaced apartments and townhomes with single-family homes, to a committee for further study. Among its concerns were proposed 41-foot-wide lots.

After visiting a subdivision in Concord with homes similar to those being proposed in Drummond Village, committee members recommended allowing the developer to use the narrower lots. The depth of the lots made a difference, they said, and those proposed for Salisbury would be deeper.

“I was pleasantly surprised with the feel of the community, the way it looked,” said Planning Board member Sandy Reitz, who led the committee.

The committee’s endorsement came with the condition that the 41-foot-wide lots only be used for homes with single-car garages. The committee also recommended requiring lots of at least 45 feet in width for houses with two-car garages and 50-foot-wide lots at street corners.

Wood said Tuesday that developers would go a step further, eliminating the narrowest lots altogether in favor of a minimum 45-foot-wide lot. Previous revisions had reduced the number of housing units from 600 to about 400 and Woods said the new revisions will further lessen that number.

“We did lose some units, obviously, but I think it’s going to make for a much better plan,” he said.

Developers agreed to several more committee recommendations:

* Because of the Jake Alexander Boulevard extension delay, two streets will exceed the 800-foot maximum length to calm traffic, developers will install two traffic circles in the Jake Alexander right of way.

* Speed concerns will be addressed by creating a two-way stop in the four-way intersection in phase three of the development.

* Remaining acreage adjacent to Corbin Hills Golf Course will remain undeveloped and designated as future open space with ownership going to the homeowners association.

Board member Lou Manning said considering the originally proposed 41-foot lot widths, he “had visions of being a boy scout again with a pup tent out there,” but his concerns were addressed.

“I think we came to a good agreement with the developer and it looks like it’s going to be a good project,” he said.

The board also approved the requested rezoning of 3 acres on Bringle Ferry Road at Interstate 85 to allow for a mini-warehousing business. But the board denied the property owner Kevin Wilson’s request to put an auto sales business on part of the land.

Kevin Wilson had asked to rezone the entire parcel from single family/duplex residential and light commercial to general business with a special use district allowing only the warehousing and auto sales.

But while board members said business development is allowable along the interstate, they agreed to restrict a portion of the parcel further back along Bringle Ferry to residential use as a buffer for the surrounding neighborhood.

The cases now go to City Council.

Contact Scott Jenkins at 704-797-4248 or sjenkins@salisburypost.com. & lt;i/ & gt;