Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mount Airy council adopts narrower rezoning, keeps focus on Main Street protections
Summary
After extended debate about Main Street's character and potential for incremental upzoning, the Mount Airy Town Council narrowed Ordinance 2025-16 to rezone only Parcel 1429 from "residential existing" to Neighborhood Professional and approved the amendment.
The Mount Airy Town Council debated long-running rezoning proposals for four South Main Street parcels under Ordinance 2025-16 and ultimately approved an amended measure that applies only to Parcel 1429.
Council members spent more than an hour discussing whether converting residential properties adjacent to Main Street to a Neighborhood Professional (NP) zone would erode the historic Main Street character and create momentum for further upzoning. Council member Steven Demoter and others argued NP is a commercial zoning classification that could bring increased traffic and deliveries to a corridor they described as already stressed. "If you read the code, NP zoning is commercial zoning," Demoter said, noting NP allows medical and professional uses and could be seen as a stepping stone to more intensive commercial zoning.
Council President (presiding officer in transcript) and other members countered that Parcel 1429 sits amid a patchwork of already rezoned parcels and that a change reflects the neighborhood's evolution. After motions and amendments, the council voted to remove three limited-commercial parcels from the ordinance and approve rezoning Parcel 1429 from "residential existing" to Neighborhood Professional. The amendment was seconded and approved by voice vote; one member recorded a 'nay' during the voice vote as noted in the transcript.
Council member Demoter later introduced a separate motion directing the planning director to prepare master plan amendments to remove properties recommended for rezoning that were never rezoned and to align the master plan with council actions. That motion was introduced for discussion and then tabled until the next meeting so legal counsel could be present.
The council did not adopt any immediate site-specific development approvals or changes to code language at the meeting; the action was a zoning-map rezoning for a single parcel and a direction to staff on potential master plan updates.
Next steps: the master-plan amendment motion will return to the agenda next month with the town attorney present, and staff will document the council's direction if the planning department pursues the proposed text changes.
