Morganton board approves three variances for Case Farms to accommodate transmission-line easement

At a February 2025 meeting of the City of Morganton Board of Land Use Adjustment, the board approved three variances requested by Case Farms for a four-parcel site bordering Rand Street and West Fleming Drive.

The variances — a reduction of the front setback from 50 feet to 20 feet, a five-foot increase in allowable building height (from 65 to 70 feet) for a critical processing air unit, and a modification of the required landscape buffer between EID and HID zones in order to permit connected parking with a fenced screen and 7.5 feet of planting — were approved by motion, second and a unanimous 4-0 vote. The board's chair stated that, because one member was absent, the statutory requirement for variances (a four-fifths supermajority) meant the vote required unanimity of the four members present to carry.

The city's director of development and design services, Wendy Smith, told the board the site contains two adjacent high-voltage transmission easements (each described in the packet as 68 feet wide), which run through…