SPENCER — It looks like the town of Spencer will be getting a little bit bigger after the Spencer Board of Aldermen approved an annexation on Tuesday night.

The decision to annex property at 1940 U.S. Hwy. 29 was approved unanimously.

Addressing the board, Spencer Planning and Zoning Administrator Steve Blount said, “This is a 1.69-acre parcel located at that address. We recently rezoned that (to mixed-use) from industrial. There are three existing structures on that property.”

Those structures include one commercial building and two small residential properties. The building is a pool hall called Smokey Joe’s Pub and Grub.

Blount indicated that the property owner hopes to expand the existing business into a full-service restaurant and bar and that they need to be in municipal limits to qualify for a liquor-by-the-drink license.

“Much of the property is encumbered by the railroad right of way and road right of way,” Blount said.

The property is just north of the Packaging Corporation of America’s full-line corrugated packaging plant as well as N.C. state property, both of which are already within municipal limits, making the consideration a contiguous annexation.

“That is why we are supporting this annexation of this sliver,” Blount said. “There is a very limited amount of services required, also a very limited amount of tax revenue to help pay for those services.”

In a slide to the board, Blount pointed out that since the property is located on U.S. Hwy. 29 just north of PCA and being on the way to the N.C. Finishing Co. property and the town’s trailhead and Overlook Parks at the Yadkin River, the fiscal impacts incurred to provide municipal services would be “negligible.”

Since the annexation of the property connects the N.C. Finishing Co. property to the contiguous boundary of the town, Blount mentioned that it serves the town’s larger goal of revitalizing that northern corridor of the town.

“We feel this is a good step in reforming that corridor out to that river district,” Blount said. “Hopefully, this will be the first of several annexations and rezonings in that corridor.”

That type of development is what was envisioned in the town’s comprehensive land use plan and the 2022 Salisbury Ave. Corridor Study. Blount said it would also be supported by the Yadkin River District Plan, which is currently in the works.

Alderman Erin Moody made the motion, which was seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Patti Seacrest before unanimous passage.