By Karissa Minn
kminn@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — County commissioners agreed Monday to allow a proposed business off U.S. 29 to serve alcohol, but not all of them were singing its praises.
Scott Howard, owner of Uncle Buck’s restaurant in downtown Salisbury, and Jimmy Lingle plan to run a business with live music, a game room and alcohol sales. It would be located at 5685 S. Main St., just south of Salisbury.
After a quasi-judicial hearing Monday, the Rowan County Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 to approve a conditional use permit allowing the business to serve alcohol without restaurant operations.
“What we’re really proposing — I’d hate to even classify it as a bar — is a music venue for Salisbury,” Howard said. “If I could open a music venue and serve Pepsis and Cokes and be able to stay in business, that would be an ideal thing.”
He said Uncle Buck’s has begun to attract bands from as far away as Arizona, and people come to see them from all up and down the East Coast.
But these music events are outgrowing the restaurant, Howard said, and he wants to move them to a new venue in a convenient location. Serving alcohol will allow him to sustain the business, he said.
“We’ll be promoting local bands from the area… as well as trying to get national acts that are on the road,” Howard said. “I really believe in my heart that Salisbury has the capacity to hold this type of venue.”
According to county planning staff, the business will be located in a now-vacant building on a 1.25-acre tract owned by Wayne Bradshaw, who also owns the nearby BeBop’s Restaurant and Hot Rod Barn.
Existing businesses on the same tract include Hawg Shop motorcycle and repair and Fat Boys Auto Sales.
Commissioners Jim Sides and Carl Ford both voted against the permit, voicing concerns about how close the business would be to Cornerstone Church and its daycare on Webb Road.
“Within 500 feet of this proposed bar — they are serving drinks, and alcohol will be consumed on the property — there is a church, a daycare and quite possibly in the future, a school,” Sides said. “I think this would pose a danger to the area.”
Ford agreed, saying the bar sometimes would be open at the same time as the church and daycare.
Chairman Chad Mitchell said he understands the concerns, but Cornerstone Church does not seem to object.
“I would think if the church had an issue with the rezoning, they would have at least had a representative here to voice their concerns,” Mitchell said.
He added that he doesn’t think the county should let a possible future school override someone else’s use of the property now.
Commissioner Raymond Coltrain asked Planning Director Ed Muire to clarify the distance between the business and the church. Muire said it is, in fact, just over 500 feet “from structure to structure.”
Two officers from the Salisbury Police Department spoke in favor of the permit and said they have never had an problem with Uncle Buck’s.
Muire said no Alcohol Law Enforcement violations or written warnings have been issued to Howard’s restaurant.
In other news, commissioners heard from a former school board candidate during the public comment period about the “terrible conditions” at Knox Middle School and other school buildings.
Craig Pierce said Rowan-Salisbury Schools’ board members should focus on students, teachers and schools, not on building a central office.
He referred to the following quote by Jim Emerson, school board chairman, that was printed in a Post article Friday: “…if you’ve got a good teacher you can hold class in a tent.”
“My recommendation for a new administration building is let’s buy them a tent,” Pierce said. “If it’s good enough for the children, it should be good enough for them.”
Contact reporter Karissa Minn at 704-797-4222.
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In other business

Rowan County Commissioners also:
• Authorized the parks and recreation department to use funds from the county’s Murtis Nicholas Account, to be paid back with project donations, for construction of an ADA-compliant miniature golf course at Dan Nicholas Park.
If fundraising efforts fall short, the department also asked to use $1 from each game of miniature golf to pay back the remaining amount. Commissioners did not approve this part of the request, but they voted 3-2 to allow use of the account.
Sides, Ford and Mitchell said all money from the games should go to the county, not to an account made up of private donations for emergency capital expenses.
Barber and Coltrain said the whole request should be approved.
• Awarded service sidearms to retiring 1st Lt. Michael Terry Agner and retiring Lt. Debra Yokley.
• Approved the road name of Indian Trail for a location northeast off the 2500 block of West Innes Street.
• Authorized a Rowan Transit System application for about $259,000 in 2012 Rural Operating Assistance Program funds offered by the N.C. Department of Transportation.
• Accepted the 2010 annual report from the Rowan County Local Emergency Planning Committee.
• Approved a mutual aid agreement with Davidson County due to the Yadkin River bridge and roadway expansion construction project on Interstate 85.
• Formalized the Rowan County Rescue Squad’s peak time supplemental ambulance coverage in southern Rowan.
• Dissolved the Rowan County-Kannapolis Regional Sports Authority used to manage Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium.
• Approved the tax administrator’s annual settlement.
• Approved several budget amendments.