SALISBURY — After hearing arguments on both sides, Salisbury City Council stopped short Tuesday of making any decision on whether Rowan County should be able to use West End Plaza for government purposes.
“I just feel it’s not ready for a vote today,” Mayor Paul Woodson said.
Rowan County, owners of the former Salisbury Mall at 1935 Jake Alexander Blvd. W., seeks a special-use permit under the existing highway business zoning to add “government services” as a use for the property.
The county already has plans, for example, to move offices for the Rowan County Board of Elections and Veterans Services to empty spots in the West End Plaza. Plans also are in the works for the vacant Big Lots store to become a county warehouse.
“This is not about trying to do anything detrimental to downtown Salisbury,” said Craig Pierce, vice chairman of the Rowan County Board of Commissioners, addressing fears expressed in the past that county officials will relocate many of their departments and workers from the downtown to the West End Plaza.
Pierce stressed the West End Plaza is needed to meet future space needs for Rowan County government, while also providing room for business incubators and retail stores.
He said it’s likely the county will have to move the Department of Social Services and Health Department from their shared facility off East Innes Street to the West End Plaza, and relocate the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office from the downtown to the DSS-Health Department location.
That move would help extend the life of the courthouse by 50 years and eliminate the need for Rowan County to build a multi-million-dollar parking deck in the downtown, Pierce said. He promised that the current board has “thought this out.”
But David Post, a Salisbury Planning Board member who voted last week against the special-use permit, warned council that once it approved the county’s request, it’s permanent — a blank check “you can’t take away.”
Michael Young, a downtown property owner and developer, argued government services at the West End Plaza would not be the highest and best use of the property, which sits in a corner of two of Salisbury’s busiest streets.
Todd Paris, a vocal opponent of the county’s purchase of the mall, said shipping county office workers from the downtown to the western side of town doesn’t represent economic growth. He said a better use of the property would be to establish a new Knox Middle School on the site.
Paris noted there will be three new county commissioners elected in November, and that newly constituted board should be deciding the future for the West End Plaza.
“This is a rush,” Paris said, “to tie the hands of that new county commission.”
After eight people had spoken on the special-use permit, Woodson said he was leaving the quasi-judicial hearing open. He commended all who spoke for giving excellent presentations, but he suggested to his colleagues they defer any decision.
Council voted 4-1, with Councilman Brian Miller dissenting, to delay a decision until its next meeting, which won’t be held until Oct. 7.
Senior Planner Preston Mitchell and City Attorney Rivers Lawther warned council members that by keeping the hearing open they would not be able to discuss the case with anyone.
“You really need to go into a closed box now,” Mitchell said.
Lawther added, “It’s frozen.”
All council members can really do until Oct. 7 is consider the sworn testimony they heard Tuesday on their own, Mitchell said. They could review their notes and return Oct. 7 with questions, Mitchell said, and because the hearing remains open, more testimony could be taken then.
It would be permissible, Mitchell said, for council members to watch a replay of Tuesday’s meeting.
“We want to be a good neighbor to that end of the community,” Pierce said during his remarks. He added later the county wanted to see West End Plaza developed as an asset to both the city and Rowan County as a whole.
After holding its own quasi-judicial meeting last week, the Salisbury Planning Board voted 7-2 in favor of the special-use permit, which went to council as a recommendation.
As he did before the Planning Board, Rowan County Planning Director Ed Muire made a straightforward case as to why the county’s request satisfied three general “standards of decision” for the granting of a special-use permit.
Council generally was asked to base its decision on whether the permit meets city code and policies of the Vision 20/20 Plan; whether it will be visually and functionally compatible and whether it satisfies public health, safety and welfare and property value concerns.
Jerry Rowland, former tax assessor for Rowan County, said approval of a special-use permit would not decrease property values in the neighborhood around West End Plaza.
Muire argued the request represented a change in use only — a supplement to what already is allowed in highway business zoning.
“In planning terms,” Muire said, “this is an open district. There are a lot of things allowed out there.”
Muire also noted that in 16 zoning districts in Salisbury, “government services” is considered a compatible use, as long as a conditional district or special-use permit is approved.
Post said the county had not met its burden of proof in meeting a Vision 20/20 policy encouraging “a flexible, yet compatible development environment that supports new business formation and growth in the city’s older commercial district.”
Post and Young said the not-quite-30-year-old mall didn’t qualify as being an older commercial property — a reference meant more for the downtown.
Maybe laying groundwork for appeal, should the permit be denied County Attorney Jay Dees questioned the city’s procedure of having two quasi-judicial (sworn testimony) hearings.
“The duplicated process,” Dees told council, “introduces opinions outside of this hearing, which is the one that matters.”

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263.