Prime Leland property’s use in question

LELAND, NC (WWAY) — Thursday night the Leland Town Council decided the land on Highway 17 near Ploof Road will be zoned as a commercial two property.

Town planners said this is a more generic classification as far as land use goes and commercial two zoning is used more often and can be easier for developers to build on, because they have access to more contractors.

Council members are concerned if the land is zoned for commercial two use the town will have little input as to what is put there.

Robert Waring, Leland planning director, said the other option was to rezone the land as form based code.

“It’s going to put less of an emphasis on the use and more of an emphasis on the form of the building. So you’re going to see the buildings being reused over time, whereas you have a single use building that has to be torn out when something moves out,” said Waring.

Town leaders say the land is at Leland’s epicenter.

There will be a second reading on the commercial two zoning decision at a later date.