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Council split over revising master plan after repeated rezoning votes for South Main properties
Summary
Councilmember Demoter sought amendments to the town’s newly adopted comprehensive master plan to remove or align specific South Main rezonings with the council’s prior votes; members debated legal and planning implications and passed a motion directing planning staff to submit proposed amendments to the Planning Commission.
Mount Airy — Councilmember Demoter moved that the town’s recently adopted comprehensive master plan be amended to remove or update recommendations affecting properties on extended South Main Street after the council had previously voted against rezoning several parcels.
Demoter argued the master plan’s vision — which identifies up to 20 properties for potential commercial rezoning — conflicts with three separate council votes opposing commercial rezoning of individual properties and therefore should be updated to avoid confusing property owners and creating grounds for legal challenge. He told the council the inconsistency risks “opening the town to high‑consequence land‑use challenges” by owners who could point to the master plan as justification for rezoning.
Other council members raised legal and practical concerns about reopening the master plan. One council member noted recent state planning law changes (SB 266 and HB 287) and the Department of Planning’s guidance that, under current state requirements, reopening the master plan could require a fuller rewrite of the document to conform to newly required plan elements. That speaker argued an extensive rewrite could produce a significantly different plan and recommended handling rezonings as individual legislative actions in the future rather than reopening the entire document.
The council took a motion directing the Community Planning Director to submit proposed amendments to the Planning Commission that would: (1) remove from the list of recommended rezonings any properties that have not been rezoned, (2) update language for properties already rezoned to reflect the approved zoning, and (3) correct clerical errors noted in Demoter’s redlined draft. Councilmember Kelly seconded the motion; the mayor called for the voice vote and recorded the motion as approved for submission to the Planning Commission.
Council members and staff emphasized two practical points: a master plan does not itself rezone land (rezoning requires a separate legislative action), and any future rezoning requests will still require council action. Several council members urged clearer communications to homeowners near South Main to explain that placement in a master plan is not an automatic zoning change and that each rezoning requires a subsequent council vote.
Planning staff and the mayor said the Planning Commission will consider the proposed amendments and return a recommendation to the council; councilmembers requested staff note state planning changes adopted earlier in the year when preparing any revision.
