By David Purtell

david.purtell@salisburypost.com

The owner of Zaxby’s in Salisbury has decided to end her current plans to build another restaurant in the city.

Gina Dickens, who owns the restaurant at the Innes Street Market, said she has decided to terminate her contract with John Leatherman, who owns the land on Jake Alexander Boulevard where the new Zaxby’s was planned for.

Dickens said she has decided to “cut her losses” and pursue a location in Hickory that she has been looking at. A lot of time and money went into trying to get the location on Jake Alexander Boulevard approved, she said, adding that she hopes to find another location in Salisbury in the future.

After an hours-long public hearing Tuesday, Leatherman withdrew his request to have the property rezoned to allow for a drive-thru restaurant. He withdrew the request at council’s urging because it was clear the members were going to vote against it.

Heavy opposition to a drive-thru restaurant at the proposed location, between two office complexes at the traffic light at Castlewood Drive on Jake Alexander Boulevard, doomed the plans. Several business owners and residents voiced their resistance during the public hearing.

“I was really disappointed with how everything went on Tuesday,” Dickens said about the meeting. She has a Zaxby’s in Albemarle, Huntersville and Concord and said she’s never had to deal with this kind of opposition.

Dickens said she hoped council would’ve at least sent the issue to a committee for further review. During the meeting, a motion was made to send the request to a committee, but Mayor Paul Woodson and council members Maggie Blackwell and Pete Kennedy voted against it.

Woodson said his reasoning for voting against a committee was that the case needed more time — several months, he said — to be resolved than a committee allows for. A committee usually meets a couple of weeks after being formed, and then council tries to get  something done during its next few meetings, he said.

He said emotions were running high and that council thought things just needed to slow down. He said he thinks a compromise was possible if both sides had worked together toward a solution.

“Very rarely have I not seen things get worked out with time,” he said.

The reason council asked Leatherman to withdraw the request was to avoid the mandatory one-year waiting period that would’ve been implemented if council voted against the request — he’d have to wait one year before bringing the same request back to the city.

Woodson said council’s action doesn’t mean the city is tough on business. He pointed to the two new hotels that council has approved in recent months as proof and added the Zaxby’s case is unusual.

“We have to respect both sides,” he said about how council looks at cases like the one with Zaxby’s. “You have to consider the people who are already there,” he said about the business owners and residents who were in opposition.

Sometimes, city governments can spend too much time courting new businesses and not enough time helping the ones they already have, Woodson said.

Leatherman said he doesn’t blame Dickens for moving on. “Why would she want to go through this again?” he asked about the months-long ordeal.

Leatherman declined to say whether anyone else is interested in the site, but did say he thinks it’s a great spot for a bank.

Leatherman said he felt the deck was stacked against him during the public hearing. He was upset that his side didn’t get to respond to safety concerns brought up by a doctor who said a drive-thru restaurant would cause traffic congestion that could put lives at risk.

Dr. Samuel Roy, who does plastic and oral surgery, has his office at the far end of the Pinnacle Office Complex directly south of the proposed site. Access to any drive-thru restaurant built there would share the same road as the one to the complex. Occasionally, he said, he has to call an ambulance to his office to assist a patient. Traffic problems already exist at the complex, he said, and any excess vehicles from a drive-thru could delay an ambulance coming to or going from his office — wasting precious time that could cost someone his or her life.

Woodson said he was swayed by Roy’s argument. He said the southern end of the Pinnacle complex needs to have access to Jake Alexander Boulevard in order to alleviate his concerns about safety.

Leatherman owns the land where a new entrance to the complex would likely go. Woodson said the city needs to work with Leatherman to get something done. Leatherman said he’s willing to listen to ideas.

As for Dickens, she said she loves Salisbury and would really like to put another Zaxby’s on that side of town.

Contact Reporter David Purtell at 704-797-4264.