RFP Staff
♦ At Tuesday’s City Council’s 4 p.m. hearing for Rowan County’s request for a Conditional District Overlay for the West End Plaza, Salisbury’s City Council voted 5 to 0 in favor of county’s request.
Previously the West End Plaza was zoned highway business. The request for the government use permit included the West End Plaza’s main buildings and the parking lot surrounding it. The request for the government use permit will not include the out parcels. The total area to be rezoned is 25.5 acres.
The West End Plaza will provide space for the Board of Elections, the County’s Facilities Management Department, and the Veteran’s Service Department as well as other county space needs. In the future, according to the county’s preliminary space needs studies, the county will require more space for several departments including the behemoth Department of Social Services.
City council attached the same 3 conditions to their approval as the City Planning Board did: (1) The county’s rear outside storage area has to be visually shielded from the adjacent residential area. (2) No outdoor kenneling would be permitted at the site which would mean that no animal shelter could be at the West End Plaza. (3) No class 2 and class 3 utilities, as defined by the city, could be housed at the West End Plaza.
City Council did not limit the amount of space the county might employ for government services. The county is now permitted to use all 335,000 square feet of the West End Plaza.
Highlights of the Conditional District Overlay Hearing:
• Not a soul spoke in opposition to the County’s Conditional District Overlay request.
• No County Commissioners were present save for Greg Edds who came in late and spoke up for the West End Plaza. City Council put on a show about how they trusted him.
• City staff like they did the first time for the Special Use Permit were supportive of the County’s Conditional District Overlay request.
• Councilman Karen Alexander appeared resistant initially to the Conditional District Overlay proposal until she was reassured the county had no plans of a Downtown exodus. At one point she wanted to table the West End Plaza request until the County’s space needs study came out (Said to be on the March the 16th). All this before Edds asked city council to pass the Conditional District Overlay.
**This article will be updated as more specific information arrives directly from Salisbury’s City Hall.**
