Zoning case for proposed SECU branch goes back to GQ Planning Board Monday

Published 12:00 am Sunday, October 16, 2016

By Mark Wineka
mark.wineka@salisburypost.com

GRANITE QUARRY — Zoning for “Granite Place,” the proposed site for a State Employees Credit Union branch, will again be taken up by the Granite Quarry Planning Board Monday evening.

The Planning Board meets at 5:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

The town is seeking to change the zoning of Granite Place, which takes in roughly 30 acres total, to a highway business district (HB).

The current zoning of Granite Place is both HB and suburban residential (RS). The change requested would make it HB only.

Granite Place is the name given to a piece of property extending out and back from the corner of North Salisbury Avenue (U.S. 52) and Dunn’s Mountain Church Road. It includes Granite Street, Granite Lane and 14 different parcels.

For now, Granite Place has a Dollar General store, an office, a single-family home, an automotive service business and vacant land.

Both the Planning Board and Board of Aldermen have been discussing the zoning on this property for several months now. Some confusion set in after town officials realized the Granite Quarry zoning map did not reflect a mid-1990s court settlement in which the town agreed to highway business zoning for Granite Place.

The proposed location of a SECU branch has drawn opposition.

After town action earlier this month, the Planning Board no longer has to advertise a courtesy hearing for zoning cases before the Planning Board, but the Planning Board, if it wants, can still hear public comment on a matter as part of its review.

The Planning Board will make a recommendation to the Board of Aldermen on the zoning case.