SALISBURY — The Rowan County Planning Board voted to table a rezoning request after comments from neighbors asked the developer to reconsider the site plans for a new Bostian Heights Fire Department building and a retail or office space.

Dynamic Developers brought the rezoning request before the board during the meeting on Monday in reference to their property located near the intersection of Old Concord and Old Beatty Ford roads. The property the company asked to rezone was a 9.6-acre portion of a larger 43.2-acre property that they own.

Amanda Hodierne, the lawyer handling the rezoning request for the company, said that a 2-acre piece of the property would be used to build a new building for the fire department. The rest of the property would be a conditional district that could be used for multiple purposes. Currently, the company’s site plan indicated that a commercial building will be built at the corner of Ketner Farm and Old Beatty Ford roads.

One of the issues that arose was that the commercial building’s parking lot connects to Ketner Farm Road, a dead-end road with only residences on it. A few neighbors spoke about the negative effects that could have on traffic on the road.

“Any driver that mistakenly heads down it has to either turn around in somebody’s driveway along the way, make an elaborate five-point turn in the middle of the road or drive the whole thing and turn around in a very small cul-de-sac,” said Tyler Wiethorn, who lives on Ketner Farm Road.

A few of the neighbors said that if they had wanted a commercial area near their homes, they would have chosen to live much closer to Salisbury or Kannapolis. Hodierne answered that concern by noting that the intersection had been designated as a community development node. The nodes are areas outside of highway corridors where the county believes commercial uses will help the surrounding population.

Hodierne said that the developer would be willing to ask the North Carolina Department of Transportation for permission to move the driveway from Ketner Farm Road to Old Beatty Ford Road. She also said that they may be willing to add signage to their property to indicate that drivers need to avoid going further into the dead-end road.

The members of the planning board voted to table any vote on the rezoning and site plan until the developer had received a ruling from the NCDOT on the placement of the driveway.