Commission gets plats
By Steve Herring
Published in News on December 9, 2009 1:46 PM
The Wayne County Planning Board approved four subdivision plats and one mobile home park plat at its meeting Tuesday night.
Until recently, that would have been all that was necessary for the projects to proceed.
But since the county Board of Commissioners rewrote the county's subdivision and mobile home park ordinances, and took over final say in plat approval, the board could only forward them to commissioners with its OK.
It was the first occasion that the new system has come into play.
County Planner Connie Price presented the plats and answered a few questions asked by board members.
He also addressed how long the process would take now that commissioners have final approval.
Price said commissioners will meet again next Tuesday, but added that the agenda for that meeting is normally finalized by the Wednesday before the meeting. Price said it likely would be three weeks from the time the Planning Board approves a plat until it is acted on by commissioners.
Price said today the plats that received conditional approval Tuesday night will not be on commissioners' agenda for next week.
However, he said he is trying to get two of the projects on next week's agenda -- the Grover Williams Mobile Home Park, on the south side of Price Road, and Mildred Jones (a family subdivision), on the north side of Sanderson Road, both in the Indian Springs community. Those two projects were approved without conditions, while the other three received conditional approval.
Receiving conditional approval were Lancaster Pointe, Section 3, (final) located off U.S. 13 on True Vine Road; Westpointe Manor (final) located at the intersection of Genoa Road and Outlaw Road at Dudley; and South Creek, Section 3, (final) located on the south side of Ada Stroud Road in the Indian Springs community.
Most of the conditions were technical, Price said. The major condition is that the plats require new streets that have not been paved and electrical lines that have not been added.
Once a map is approved and recorded, the developer may begin selling the lots, he said.
Because of that, the improvement must be done, or a guarantee provided they will be done, before final approval is given, he said.
A mobile home park is different from a mobile home subdivision that is regulated by the subdivision ordinance. A mobile home park consists of three or more mobile homes on rented lots, while in a subdivision the homeowner owns the lot.
No construction or installation of improvements can begin at a mobile home park until approval is received and the park inspected, Price said.
In other business, the Planning Board approved a variance request from Jonathan and Gwen Moore who live in the Red Oak subdivision located off N.C. 581 in an area where the county has zoning.
The county's zoning rules require a 25-foot setback from the property line for structures on the property. The Moores want to build a large storage shed on the property. They asked for a variance to allow a 10-foot setback. Moore said that the shed otherwise could not be built because it would cover the maintenance area for the septic tank.
Price said he would have to check with County Attorney Borden Parker to determine whether commissioners would be required to sit as the Board of Adjustment to act on the request. A public hearing will be required if that is the case, Price said.