SALISBURY — The Rowan County Planning Board unanimously denied an application by developer Jerry McSorley to change the zoning of a 11-acre lot on Jackson Road near Faith from Rural Agricultural to Manufactured Home Park. Neighbors from the area showed up at the meeting to voice their protest during the courtesy hearing.

According to Aaron Poplin, a planner with the Rowan County Planning Department, the application was also the first instance of someone wishing to rezone to a new manufactured home park since countywide zoning was adopted in 1998. Six previous applications were centered around the zoning, but four involved preexisting parks rezoned to fit the 1998 adoption and the other two applied to expand existing parks.

Many of the residents voiced their concerns about traffic in the area. As multiple people stated, there are two large curves in the around the proposed development that leaves many drivers blind.

“This disastrous idea to our Jackson Road cannot be allowed to happen. I don’t want to die with a steering wheel between my cheeks,” said Jerry Ludwick, who lives close by on Jackson Road.

Janna Griggs runs the nonprofit Saving Grace Farm on her personal property on Jackson Road. Griggs brought up potential issues that can arise for tenants that live in mobile home parks. She stated that because many residents of mobile homes can become trapped because they own the home they live in but not the land it is placed upon. This means that they own the asset that is decreasing in value while having to rent the asset that is increasing.

“Legal loopholes often exclude these residents from typical tenant protections. Residents who receive an eviction notice must coordinate moving their homes, finding a new place to move and paying thousands of dollars to get the job done,” said Griggs.

Many other residents brought up their own concerns. Several neighbors brought up the nearby creek and potential negative effects that could come from 16 new homes being set up in the area. Jeffrey Harvell brought up that the creek was the lowest area in the lot, so runoff from the property would all run into the creek.

By the end of the meeting, around a dozen residents had spoken against the rezoning application.

Several on the planning board had concerns founded in both the application and the public comments. Sean Reid and Jerry Davis brought up concerns about the fact that the developed had not been approved for a driveway permit from the North Carolina Department of Transportation or brought in the Rowan County Environmental Health Department to test the soil’s ability to hold a septic system.

If the application had been approved, McSorley stated before the board that his intent was to put 16 mobile homes on the northeast corner of the lot and would have had one road running from Jackson Road to a cul-de-sac where the manufactured homes would be placed. He also said that the only other use of the lot would be a community septic system and that much of the lot would have remained untouched by the development.

McSorley stated after the meeting that he did not plan to bring the application to the board of commissioners, which he would be able to do despite the denial from the Planning Board. Instead, he intends to work within the current zoning, Rural Agricultural, and develop the project as allowed.