Commissioners approve conditional business zoning at 229 Pete Road after heated family dispute

Carteret County commissioners on Oct. 20 voted to approve a subdivision and conditional B-1 rezoning for a 3.556-acre tract at 229 Pete Road, resolving a contentious dispute between neighbors and members of a local family.

The request, brought by property owner Donnie Bryant, would split a roughly 6.157-acre parcel and allow the northern tract to operate as a landscaping business and contractor storage yard with specified conditions. Planning staff said the Planning Commission recommended approval 5-1 and the application includes conditions limiting uses to landscaping operations, contractor storage and an office.

The issue drew a packed audience and divided testimony. Opponents led by Dana Tucker, a Carteret County schoolteacher, urged denial or strict conditions, citing heavy truck traffic, noise, dust and safety risks for children. "I do ask that the rezoning be denied," Tucker said, and then detailed a list of requested conditions including alternate truck access, moved stockpiles, delivery-hour limits and a vegetative buffer and fence.

Supporters and family members, including Bryant, said the business has long operated on family land and that approval with conditions would protect livelihoods. Bryant told commissioners he had worked to address neighbors' concerns and said he would install screening and move rock piles where practical. "All I wanna do is what I've been doing, not no bigger," he said.

Speakers raised legal and procedural questions during public comment. County counsel clarified recusal rules, saying it is a conflict of interest only when a decision creates a direct financial impact on a commissioner's household, not for friendships or non-household relatives.

Planning staff and commissioners emphasized that many mitigation measures — including a vegetative buffer and screening between business and residential property — are required under county code when commercial property abuts residential land and that additional conditions offered by the applicant would become binding on the land if the rezoning was approved. The applicant said he had plantings available and would move materials as discussed. Board members pressed whether alternative access routes could be required; staff and the board said the county cannot compel a property owner to cross another private parcel without the owner's agreement.

Commissioner Clark moved to approve subdivision of the parcel and rezoning of the northern tract to B-1 conditional zoning with the applicant'provided conditions; Commissioner Shin seconded. The board approved the subdivision, the rezoning and the Planning Commission's statement of plan consistency by voice vote.

The county recorded the Planning Commission's rationale as finding the rezoning consistent with surrounding properties and reasonable in the public interest because of a history of mixed homes and businesses in the area. The decision allows the applicant to operate under the county code's conditional-use restrictions and subjects the property to required site-plan review, buffer standards and any technical-review committee, fire-marshal and stormwater/wastewater requirements that apply to commercial operations.

The board moved on to routine business after the vote; the subdivision and conditional rezoning are now subject to the standard site-plan and permitting process required by the county.