Morganton commission backs alternative landscaping plan for Thrive Church

The Morganton Planning and Zoning Commission on July 9 recommended the City Council support an alternative landscaping plan for a proposed Thrive Church at the former pavilion/skating-rink site on South Sterling Street.

Planning staff Wendy described the zoning requirement for a five-foot building-yard landscaping strip adjacent to the building for a change of use and said the applicant’s alternative would instead place clustered landscaping islands in former parking spaces to create roughly 400 additional square feet of planted area and allow trees to be added. "This would provide the same min[t] landscaping still soften that large building feature," Wendy said during her presentation.

Pastor Paul Kidd, who identified himself as pastor of Thrive Church, told the commission the team revised layouts after trying to meet every dimensional standard and concluded an alternative design better meets the ordinance’s stated intent while preserving safe circulation. "After multiple revisions and a genuine effort to comply with the zoning ordinance exactly as written, we'd reached a point where we believe an alternative design is the only practical solution that still fulfills the ordinance's primary intended purpose," Paul Kidd said. He said the revised plan increases mulched landscape area from roughly 1,000 square feet to about 1,440 square feet, raises the number of small shrubs from about 70 to 76 and adds five larger shrubs and five new trees.

Commissioners pressed on accessible parking and circulation. Wendy said required accessible (van-accessible) spaces would be provided adjacent to the main entrance, and that the alternative layout allows those spaces to remain the closest to the door without forcing cars into drive aisles. One commissioner called the proposal "a very reasonable accommodation" given constraints of the existing building and its drive-under portico.

Committee member moved that the Planning and Zoning Commission recommend the City Council support the alternative design proposal for the proposed church use on South Sterling Street, specifying cluster planting in existing parking spaces to provide an additional 400 square feet of landscaping with a minimum of four trees instead of a continuous linear strip. The motion was seconded and the commission voted in favor with no recorded opposition. The commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council for final action.

Note on address in record: staff presentation referenced the site as 2157 South Sterling Street; the motion text read back a slightly different number (2147). The staff record will be checked before the item goes to council to confirm the formal application address.