A Â鶹´«Ã½ building that formerly housed Sam’s Hot Dog Stand and Hot Shots Espresso will be a plant nursery. The owners hope to open by this fall.
The property at 810 West Fleming Drive is owned by Christy and Eric Carswell, who own Carswell’s Landscaping and Maintenance.
Christy Carswell said they plan to open a nursery. She said her husband and his father previously ran a nursery in Tannery Square and they’d like to get back into it.
On Monday, the Â鶹´«Ã½ City Council approved the rezoning of the property to high intensity from medium intensity to allow for the nursery.
Carswell said the business will mostly offer shrubbery and trees along with mulch, decorative rocks, seed, fertilizer and other supplies to care for a yard. She said there will be a few flowers and some local vendors offering crafts inside the store.
Wendy Smith, director of development and design for the city of Morganton, said the rezoning opens the property up for additional business opportunities including outdoor sales and larger retail operations.
Tim Guffey lives in a Creekside home off West Union Street in Â鶹´«Ã½. He spoke against rezoning the property at the Monday meeting, citing concerns that a higher density zoning would permit businesses that could change the character of the neighborhood.
The property is flanked by residential lots on all sides, Smith said. She said any non-residential or even a multi-family residential project would require buffering with either landscaping or landscaping and fencing.
The council approved rezoning the property unanimously.
Also at the Monday meeting, some properties off Enola Road were annexed into the city.
Madcap Adventures LLC, which owns three adjoining properties, 522 Enola Road, 757 Pete Brittain Road and 0 Enola Road, requested the properties be annexed into Â鶹´«Ã½ city limits, according to information from the city.
The properties bordered city limits before the annexation. Madcap Adventures has registered agents Scott and Shelley McClure.
Council members zoned the properties as medium intensity district, which allows for a range of uses including lower density residential and neighborhood-scale residential uses, Smith said. The properties around the newly annexed lots also are zoned for medium intensity.
Chrissy Murphy is a staff writer and can be reached at cmurphy@morganton.com or at 828-432-8941.