Iredell planning board recommends denial of rezoning for 51.5-acre Josie Road tract; forwards denial to commissioners

The Iredell County Planning Board voted 5-4 on Oct. 1 to recommend denial of a rezoning request for roughly 51.525 acres along Josie Road that would change five parcels from Residential Agricultural to Highway Business Conditional District. The board’s recommendation will go to the Iredell County Board of Commissioners, which is scheduled to hear the request on Nov. 18, 2025, at 6 p.m. in the same facility.

The vote came after a staff presentation and more than a dozen public commenters, many of whom said the proposed rezoning would bring truck traffic and other impacts to an otherwise rural area. The application was filed by Metrolina Capital Partners and presented at the meeting by the applicant’s attorney, Keith Merritt of Hamilton Stevens Steel & Martin, and land‑use consultant William Allison of Piedmont Land Approvals.

Staff recommended approval and said a majority of the site is designated Highway Destination Commercial in the county’s 2045 Horizon Plan. Merritt told the…