By Mark Wineka

mark.wineka@salisburypost.com

GRANITE QUARRY — The Granite Quarry Board of Aldermen is going to take a chance.

Aldermen decided Monday night to shelve the idea — raised in the past couple of months — of instituting a building moratorium in the central business district.

Aldermen had been discussing a moratorium until design guidelines matching their new downtown master plan could be added to the town’s unified development ordinance.

But Alderman Arin Wilhelm said he does not see a need for a moratorium, especially with how close the staff is to having design guidelines ready.

Alderman Jim LaFevers agreed. “I don’t know if the moratorium is the right way to do it,” he said.

The town’s planning consultant, Kassie Watts of Benchmark, has been working on amendments for the central business district that should be ready for the Planning Board’s review in June and the town board, in July.

Town Manager Phil Conrad noted the central business district already stipulates design rules offering the town some protection, but Watts is working on a higher level of building guidelines to match provisions of the downtown master plan.

While no construction or renovation projects are in the works now for the central business district, Conrad also cautioned, “I don’t know what will walk in the door tomorrow.”

Mayor Pro Tem Mike Brinkley held back in the discussion because he owns property in the central business district. Mayor Bill Feather could not attend Monday’s meeting because of a family gathering he was attending in Durham.

On another matter Monday night, Ed Shell, a Countryside resident who has followed closely the zoning and site plans for a proposed State Employees’ Credit Union, read from a prepared statement and criticized the town’s handling of traffic access off U.S. 52 to the SECU branch.

On March 20, the Planning Board approved a site plan for the project that showed several ways to reach the property off U.S. 52 (North Salisbury Avenue).

The SECU plans a single-story, 8,500-square-foot financial institution on a 2.66-acre tract.

Shell said the Planning Board meeting was the first time the general public and people heavily involved in the entire process, such as himself and Brinkley, were aware of access from U.S. 52 “other than via the proposed new section of Granite Street.”

Shell called on aldermen to schedule a courtesy hearing to allow more information to be presented.

It became evident at the Planning Board meeting, Shell said, there had been ongoing discussions between the SECU and the Department of Transportation on plans for direct access points to U.S. 52.

“As I remarked in that meeting,” Shell said, “where have these plans been? Who had them? They certainly never had been shared with me, Mike Brinkley or the public.”

Shell asked what town officials knew of the plans and who had failed to alert the public.

At the town board’s April 3 meeting, Brinkley said the only reason he supported the rezoning for the SECU was his belief the town could control the curb cuts onto U.S. 52.

“Had I known last year what I now know,” Brinkley said in April, “I would not have supported rezoning in that area.” Brinkley expressed frustration that the site plan’s final approval, according to rules spelled out in the unified development ordinance, did not have to come before the town board

Shell and others have warned of safety problems on U.S. 52 with turning traffic in and out of the site onto a multilaned and busy U.S. 52.

“I’ll leave you with a final thought,” Shell said. “Who among you will accept the responsibility if the predicted increase in accidents, perhaps some involving tragic loss of lives, materializes because the safety concerns were not sufficiently heeded?”

Town board members did not respond to Shell immediately after his comments and went on to other business.

Town Manager Phil Conrad gave aldermen an update on efforts to make the town’s website more user-friendly, accessible and interactive. The town has hired a website company to work on a new platform that will include town news, upcoming activities, resident highlights, maps, and hyperlinks to departments and information important to residents and visitors.

Brinkley said the hope is the new website will be “one-stop shopping.”

In other town business:

• Aldermen have set a public hearing for 7 p.m. June 5 on changing the mayoral term of office from two to four years. The change in the town charter, if approved, would start with this year’s municipal election in November.

• Aldermen approved a budget amendment of $32,578 reflecting a transfer of funds from the unappropriated fund balance to the Powell Bill fund. Powell Bill funding from the state is for street paving and repair.

• Aldermen will hold a budget meeting at 4 p.m. May 15 at Town Hall.

• The Planning Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. May 8.

• The Granite Quarry Revitalization Team will meet at 3:30 p.m. May 16.

• Wilhelm said the newly formed Granite Quarry Athletic Club will offer a free lacrosse clinic for K-12 from 10 a.m. to noon June 3. “We will be bringing lacrosse to Rowan County” this fall, Wilhelm said.

• The Granite Lake plant sale will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, with East Rowan, West Rowan and Carson high schools participating.

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263.