SALISBURY — Tiger World received the final seal of approval it needed from the county government for its expansion after the Rowan County Board of Commissioners voted on Tuesday to approve a rezoning for the front half of the property to allow the park to add a new parking lot, entrance and camping sites.

Lea Jaunakais, the owner of Tiger World, petitioned the county for a rezoning of the 35.88-acre property from Rural Agricultural to Rural Agricultural with a Conditional District in order to make the park a conforming use with the county’s ordinances and to allow for the expansion. One of the large issues that the new expansion will solve is the current entrance being placed at the end of Cook Road. Several people who live on the road stated during the county planning board’s review of the petition that moving the entrance to the 4300 block of East N.C. Highway 152 would make the area safer for its residents by reducing the amount of traffic on Cook Road.

The new entrance will lead to a 276-space parking lot, where a 1,550-square-foot admissions and gift shop building will be located along with a 1,000-square-foot ticket office. Located near the parking lot will be 12 recreational vehicle camping spots and five “glamping” sites. Glamping refers to a style of camping with amenities and, in some cases, resort-style services not usually associated with traditional camping.

Another issue that residents raised during the planning process was the location of the animal-waste site being near the edge of the property, which Jaunakais agreed to remedy by moving the site into the park’s interior.

The public hearing for the rezoning was originally opened during the Nov. 20 board of commissioners meeting, but was continued and kept open until Tuesday. It was kept open for one meeting due to issues with the notices being published on time by the Salisbury Post. During that second meeting, the commissioners agreed to table the rezoning again to allow discussion with Jaunakais about the signage that was projected in the architectural renderings. Dan Norman, the architect handling the expansion and listed as the applicant for the rezoning, said during the December meeting that the signage originally shown in the renderings was only an idea and Jaunakais had not yet committed to a specific sign.

Tiger World presented an updated rendering and minimum specifications for the signage on Tuesday that the park would be willing to commit to.

According to a letter to the commissioners from Jaunakais, those specifications would be a custom-built, double-faced monument LED sign with an HD full color display, minimum 8-foot by 5-foot sign with a 40-inch pedestal and a Tiger World logo sign face with LED backlighting.

“I just wanted to clarify some of what we were concerned about, which was that the sign that we saw was not this size sign and I just wanted to make sure that what was presented to us was what we were approving, so I’m good with what I’ve seen now,” said Commissioner Craig Pierce

After the discussion, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve the rezoning and the special use permits for the camping sites. Shane Stewart, assistant planning director for the county, handled the administrative portion of the requests and presented the information to the commissioners.