SALISBURY — The Rowan County Planning Board approved a recommendation for the rezoning of a property beside the Speedway Business Park during Monday’s meeting.

The recommendation to rezone the area from Residential Rural to I-85-Economic Development-2 will now be presented to the Rowan County Board of Commissioners, another step in allowing the business park to grow into the property.

The property in question is a six-acre strip that borders Porter Road to the west, two houses to the north, and Koontz Elementary to the east. The owner, Bowtie Properties, has built a storage facility on the property that was permitted, but problems with the buffer and a neighboring property, owned by LGC Holdings, arose. An addition to an existing building crossed into land that was required to be a buffer.

Planning staff and Bowtie have worked on a plan to bring the two properties back into compliance with regulations. The board of commissioners approved a change to the park’s covenant in February that allowed for new land to be added to the park. The current rezoning application and an application by Bowtie for a Special Use Permit for the property are the final steps in the effort for compliance.

According to the proposal from the county’s planning staff, they became aware of the problem in the spring of 2022 when they noticed a driveway was connected to Speedway Boulevard through an adjacent lot also owned by Bowtie, instead of accessing Porter Road. When assessing the driveway encroachment, the staff also became aware of a “section of concrete, a mechanical unit, and a small amount of miscellaneous storage present in the required 40 foot buffer for the park,” according to the proposal.

Planning staff also noticed that the storage building owned by LGC Holdings had an “unpermitted 6,000-square-foot expansion and small buffer encroachment, and storage area,” according to the proposal.

The property runs behind four lots in the business park, three owned by Bowtie and one by LGC. What Bowtie is proposing is to extend the property lines of the four lots through the rear property. This would extend the amount of room both Bowtie and LGC have to build on, allowing both companies to bring their properties back into compliance with zoning and the park’s regulations.

Although the recommendation was approved unanimously, a few of the members of the planning board did have concerns about the encroachment. Board member Jerry Dountz voiced his worry about the rule-bending that has already taken place with the unpermitted expansion.

“I feel like since they have appeared to make an effort to work with staff and to work with the numbers to get in compliance, I’m trusting that that was done in error and not to be mischievous,” said Chairperson Karla Leonard.

Bill Arndt, a developer with Bowtie Properties, says that the company gifted the land simply to help their neighbor and that the “early Christmas gift” was made with only that help in mind. Arndt stated that he did not expect the changes to cause any issues.

The recommendation will now be presented to the board of commissioners, which will schedule a public hearing.