Mooresville staff recommend extinguishing legacy conditional zoning at Young Street to allow small-scale housing and industrial use

Mooresville planning staff on Monday recommended that the board extinguish a legacy conditional zoning district covering two parcels at 1135 Young Street and 704 Parker Avenue and reestablish base zoning districts that would allow a small attainable-housing project on Young Street and continued industrial use on the Duke Energy parcel.

The recommendation came during the town’s pre‑agenda meeting when Veronica Bateson, planner II, described rezoning case R-2025-02. Bateson said the two sites total about 28.95 acres; a small parcel at 1135 Young Street is proposed for Traditional Neighborhood (TN) zoning, which allows up to 10 dwelling units per acre, and 704 Parker Avenue is recommended to be Hybrid Light Industrial (HLI), matching existing Duke Energy operations.

Staff said the change would extinguish a conditional zoning district established in February 2004 that previously allowed 54 multifamily units, 37 single‑family units and 17 manufactured homes. Bateson told commissioners that the 2004 concept plan has not been acted on since approval and that returning the parcels to base zoning would make administration of the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) clearer for staff and property owners.

Bateson said Doug Johnson, associated with r11 company LLC, intends to build “attainable housing” on the 0.513‑acre Young Street parcel and seeks three or four dwelling units there if rezoned to TN. She said Duke Energy owns the larger parcel and that upzoning it entirely to HLI would allow Duke to continue and potentially expand industrial operations without additional rezoning delays.

Commissioners asked whether the rezoning would change the previously permitted unit counts; staff clarified that extinguishing the conditional district would void the 2004 plan and the new base districts would govern allowable uses. Commissioner West and others discussed the small parcel’s likely buildable yield and local topography; Commissioner Holden noted gullies and difficult soils on the larger tract and said the small 3–4‑unit plan “would be a great addition.”

No formal vote was recorded during the pre‑agenda presentation. Staff presented three options for the board: approve both parcels as recommended; approve 1135 Young Street only; or deny the request.

If the board moves forward with staff’s recommendation, the rezoning would become binding through a site‑specific ordinance and an affidavit signed by the property owner, and TN and HLI would be by‑right districts (meaning no additional conditions may be added).

Clarifying details and next steps: the total rezoning area is about 28.95 acres; 1135 Young Street is approximately 0.513 acres; staff said Johnson has completed similar projects in the neighborhood; the legacy conditional district dates to 02/2004. Staff presented the request as consistent with the town’s strategic priorities for economic vitality and housing.

The item will return to the board in ordinance form if commissioners place it on the regular agenda for action.