SOUTHERN PINES — The Town of Southern Pines Council met Tuesday, August 9, where they approved multiple architectural compliance permits as well as set a public hearing for the potential abandonment of two portions of roads within the Town limits.
VG Pines Residential LLC submitted a request for abandonment for a portion of Mechanic Street from West Rhode Island Avenue to the right-of-way for US Highway 1 and the portion of Rhode Island Avenue that extends through the parcel currently owned by VG Pines Residential LLC.
However, according to Town Engineer James Michel, the staff could not find evidence that the West Rhode Island Avenue right-of-way was ever officially accepted or inadvertently accepted by the Town of Southern Pines and therefore was not the council’s to give away or vacate.
“Mechanic Street was much more straightforward of the two requests,” Michel said. “It’s been acknowledged by all parties that it’s an existing town right-of-way and that for anything to occur there, it will take council action. What became a more complicated issue and one that took far more research was the request related to West Rhode Island Avenue.”
In line with protocol, the council set a public hearing to occur at the September meeting for the request for abandonment.
Following that request, VG Pines Residential also submitted an architectural compliance permit for the Patrick’s Pointe multi-family residential project, which the council approved.
The council then approved three more architectural compliance permits: one from PTAH, LLC for a 2,172 square foot retail cafe and restaurant at 600 SW Broad Street Addition, another by Bryan Bowles of Neal Smith Engineering on behalf of PTAH, LLC for Phase 1 of the Waterworks SNC project, a 13,272-foot connection expansion, and the final one was from Morganton Park II, LLC for “The Luxe at Morganton Park,” a 90-unit apartment community consisting of three 30-unit buildings and six 5-bay garages located in Morganton Park North.
The council also approved an annexation request for the Pinehurst Surgical Center to be incorporated into the Southern Pines corporate limits.
“The subject property is a 5.19-acre parcel of land located near the intersections of South Carlisle Street and Brucewood Road,” said Planning Director B.J. Grieve. “This subject parcel is currently developed with Pinehurst Medical Clinic. The property has been approved for a preliminary development plan for an additional medical building, and they’re also working their way through site plan review.”
The council then held a quasi-judicial hearing related to a special use permit for the request by Boles Funeral Home for an expansion to the building.
“This is a very small addition to a pretty big building,” said John Heckethorn of Heckethorn Architecture, PLLC. “The purpose of the addition is to provide a quiet lounge space for the funeral home’s staff, which they do not currently have.”
Since the funeral home is currently a non-conforming use in the current zoning, the special use permit had to be requested from the council.
“The reason [for the special use permit] is because when the land use was originally developed, it was a conforming use in the zoning at that time,” Grieves said. “It has since been zoned on the map where it is a non-conforming use, and any time you expand a non-conforming use, that expansion requires a special use permit.”
Following the hearing, the council approved the addition.
The council approved the acceptance of the offering from Ravensbrook LLC of the private roads in Phase 1 of the Ravensbrook residential subdivision for perpetual maintenance.
The Town of Southern Pines Council will next meet September 13.
