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Council grills petitioner over Pence Road rezoning amid railroad preemption questions
Summary
A contested rezoning for ~31 acres on Pence Road to allow a rail freight terminal drew pushback from staff and concerns from council about adjacency to homes. Petitioner argued federal law could preempt local zoning for railroad‑owned operations; council asked for additional studies and legal clarification before a final vote.
A rezoning request for roughly 31.2 acres on Pence Road (petition 2025‑086) sparked sustained debate on Feb. 16 as council members weighed the proposal’s industrial intensity against nearby new single‑family development.
Planning staff recommended denial, saying the proposal to rezone to ML‑2 conditional (manufacturing and logistics) would expand heavy industrial uses next to residential and recreational properties. The petitioner, represented by attorney Colin Brown, said the site is already largely industrially zoned and is railroad‑owned. Brown told council that "if Aberdeen and Carolina wanted to build a rail facility that was just theirs, they could do that," and that federal law affords railroads certain preemption rights, a point he said differentiates owner‑operated railroad uses from third‑party operations.
Brown said the current proposal seeks conditional zoning so that, if a third‑party user operates a terminal, the city could secure buffering and operational conditions that would protect nearby residents more than the railroad could be required to do under a by‑right federal preemption scenario. He said the petitioner has reoriented plans to accommodate a Pence Road realignment and could dedicate right‑of‑way for a DOT flyover.
Council members pressed for detail on likely users, frequency of truck/rail activity, and whether noise, vibration or environmental studies exist. Several members, including Dimple Ajmera, said they wanted a clear list of ML‑2‑only uses and a technical study of likely impacts before approving heavy industrial zoning adjacent to homes.
Staff and the petitioner agreed to follow up with legal counsel to clarify the scope of federal preemption for railroad operations and to provide additional buffering and operational commitments in a conditional plan if the petition moves forward. Council did not adopt a final approval in the hearing; members signaled they want more technical and legal information before taking a final vote.
