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Burke County planning staff propose zoning map change and text updates aimed at easing housing development
Summary
Burke County planning staff on Monday presented a rezoning request to change 4.5 acres along U.S. 64 from Residential-3 to Rural Mixed Use and proposed a first-phase zoning text amendment aimed at smaller lot minimums where sewer exists and clearer site-development standards.
Burke County planning staff presented two related items Monday: a zoning map amendment request from a local home builder and a zoning text amendment intended to clarify and simplify the county's development standards.
Alan Glines, the county planning director, described ZMA 2025-03, a request by Brian and Robin Smith to rezone the front 4.5 acres of their roughly 23-acre parcel along U.S. 64 in Morganton Township from Residential-3 to Rural Mixed Use. Glines said the front portion fronts a rural highway corridor where single-family homes and businesses coexist and that the applicant has an outbuilding used for his home-building business that supports mixed uses; the planning board recommended unanimous approval (6-0) and one nearby neighbor spoke in favor.
Glines also presented a broader Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA 2025-01) that would reorganize and clean up the county's ordinance. Key elements described include:
- Adjusting minimum lot sizes based on utilities available (well and septic vs. public water vs. public sewer) with smaller lots where sewer exists. - Consolidating repeated site-plan requirements by referencing the central site-plan table (Article 7-7-10) instead of repeating lists in multiple special-use sections. - Separating and renaming Article 6 into distinct sections covering site and building development and design standards, access and parking standards, landscaping, site utilities, and standards for cluster and master-planned developments.
Glines said the text amendment is a first-phase effort and that future work could address subdivisions, solar farms and other special uses. He said the planning board will convene stakeholders including surveyors, home builders and planning-board members to advise further.
Commissioners asked whether state legislation (House Bill 765/765-related bills referenced by a commissioner) could affect county authority; Glines said Burke County's ordinance is crafted to be simpler and hoped to avoid conflict but agreed to review the referenced bill.
The map amendment and text amendment remained on the agenda for the formal public hearing at the regular meeting; no final rezoning vote was taken at the pre-agenda session.
