GRANITE QUARRY — The town of Granite Quarry may be the fastest growing municipality in Rowan County, as the Granite Quarry Town Council approved the annexation of another two properties on Monday, one of which is proposed as a fast food location.

The properties in question were an approximately 1.7-acre property on Julian Road and an approximately one-acre property on Old Concord Road.

The Julian Road property is adjacent to the Rowan Summit shopping center and is owned by the same development company that built the center, Rowan Summit, LLC, which is owned by Chattanooga-based developer Hutton Real Estate Holdings.

Rick Flowe, planning, zoning and subdivision administrator for the town, said that the property is currently being proposed as a fast food restaurant. Flowe said that the applicants had already submitted site plans for the development and received comments from his department, so the project was “moving along at a fairly quick clip.”

The commercial annexation is one of at least four that has been proposed and approved in the Rowan Summit development, with the town having annexed the Texas Roadhouse along with the two properties that border Julian Road.

The members of the town council voted unanimously to approve the annexation and apply the Interstate Highway 85 Commercial District zoning to the property.

The second annexation approved on Monday was for a one-acre property located 3006 Old Concord Road. The property is connected to three properties totaling approximately 21 acres that were annexed in early fall of 2024. All four of the properties were annexed on the request of Ames Construction, who was attempting to build a new office headquarters. Ames is working on a new Toyota plant in Randolph County and looking to move from their current location in Charlotte to be closer to that project.

Flowe said that Ames had acquired the fourth property after the original annexation was approved, so when the company submitted the site plan to him, he advised them that they would need to have all of the site annexed.

The members of the council voted unanimously to approve the annexation and apply the Industrial zoning designation to the property.

Councilor John Linker said that he attended the Granite Quarry Planning Board meeting where each annexation and rezoning was discussed and recommended, and no members of the planning board expressed any concerns or issues with either proposal.

In other news from the town council meeting on Monday:

• The Granite Quarry Police Department held a badge-pinning ceremony for recently promoted Sgt. Greg McKinney.
• The council tabled a zoning map amendment for a proposed housing development located in between Troutman and Brinkley streets. The development was a controversial topic when it was originally proposed, requiring Mayor Brittany Barnhardt to break a tie by voting for approval. The change would reduce the number of housing units that would be built on the approximately 21-acre property from the originally-approved 65 to 49 due to an increase in the necessary stormwater drainage area. The council voted to table the amendment because the change requires the developer to acquire a three-foot-wide portion of a neighboring property, which had not been fully completed as of Monday night.
• The council approved the official design contract with engineering firm Benesch for the design services related to the Granite Civic Park upgrades. The contract totals approximately $294,000 and provides engineering, design, documentation and study services for the project.