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Council adopts text amendment defining and regulating outdoor athletic facilities up to 10,000 seats
Summary
The Salisbury City Council on Feb. 18 approved amendments to Chapters 2, 3, 11 and 18 of the Land Development Ordinance to create an 'outdoor athletic facilities' use with setbacks, height and lighting standards; the planning board had recommended approval with an exemption for preexisting facilities.
The Salisbury City Council unanimously adopted an ordinance on Feb. 18 amending multiple chapters of the city’s Land Development Ordinance to add and regulate “outdoor athletic facilities” as a permitted use with standards.
City Planning and Land Development Director Philip Lookadoo presented the proposal, which defines the use and sets size, setback, height, access, parking and lighting standards for new facilities of up to 10,000 seats. Lookadoo said staff proposed a 25-foot setback from property lines for new facilities, with graduated height limits measured from that setback (35 feet at the setback line, increasing to a capped 100-foot maximum at greater distances) intended to reduce intensity at neighboring property lines. The amendment also requires a 20-foot-wide opaque evergreen buffer where the facility adjoins residential land uses, and it sets parking at between one space per five seats (minimum) and one space per two seats (maximum), with a bicycle-parking minimum equal to 5% of vehicle spaces provided.
Lookadoo said the technical review committee recommended changes and the planning board unanimously found the amendment consistent with the Forward 2040 comprehensive plan and voted 6–1 to recommend approval of staff language subject to removing the 25-foot setback requirement for facilities that existed prior to Feb. 18, 2025. Lookadoo noted the ordinance exempts expansion of athletic facilities that existed before Feb. 18, 2025 from the 25-foot setback requirement.
During public comment, attorney Lee Prince spoke for Catawba College and stated the college “would be grateful for your support of the text amendment as modified by the planning board to allow that exemption.” No speakers opposed the amendment during the hearing.
A council member moved adoption, and the council voted to approve the ordinance. The motion language recorded at the meeting found the amendment “reasonable in the public interest and consistent with the goals, objectives, and policies of the Forward 2040 comprehensive plan.” The council’s motion passed with no opposition.
The ordinance also amends the lighting chapter to allow outdoor athletic lighting to be mounted at heights appropriate for playing-field visibility and to require aiming and shielding so illumination falls primarily on the playing area rather than off-site. Chapter 18 was updated to add a definition for outdoor athletic facilities and to remove ball fields and tennis courts from the general recreational facilities definition so the new detailed standards apply.
Council action: ordinance adoption — no recorded abstentions or negative votes on the motion at the Feb. 18 meeting.
Staff said they notified local schools and private schools of the proposed changes; Lookadoo reported he had emailed school leaders and that neither Salisbury High School nor Livingstone College had raised concerns with the proposal.
