The Southern Pines Town Council has voted unanimously to amend the Central Business District zoning ordinance to eliminate minimum lot size requirements to allow condomiums above some offices.

The amendment, approved last Tuesday, will allow Pinnacle Development Corp. -- a company owned by three local residents -- to build a brick two-story building with four "New York style" condos above five office and professional units on a small half-acre vacant lot within the block bounded by West Pennsylvania and West New Hampshire avenues and North Page and North Bennett streets.

Marcel Goneau, one of the principals in the development company, said later that the condominiums will be owner-occupied, not rentals. He said they will cost between $200,000 and $250,000. One of them is to be occupied by Don Johnson, another principal of Pinnacle who now lives on the east side of Southern Pines, he added.

Pinnacle plans to move its offices into one of the downstairs units from a temporary location now in Aberdeen.

Parking will be simplified, he said. The offices will be closed in the evenings, and the residents will have full access to parking, both on and off street at the site.

Pinnacle hopes to submit an architectural plan in November for council approval and begin construction in early 2007.

The Central Business zoning ordinance exempts the core blocks from a requirement for off-street parking under a 70 percent high density building coverage per block allowance, because public street parking is available in most blocks, according to Planning Director Bart Nuckols. The ordinance does require off-street parking for residential development in the area.

The council has previously discussed the need for more affordable residential housing near the downtown, so some residents could walk to their jobs and do necessary errands in a kind of "neo-urban," mixed-use area.

Advocates of the concept say it helps limit suburban sprawl by bringing people and services close together and discouraging the need to drive into rural areas outside town and to encourage walkability.

'Great Looking Building'

During the public hearing, Robert Thompson, chairman of the town's Board of Adjustment, called it a "great looking building" judging by a black-and-white sketch posted on a board in the meeting room at the Douglass Center at 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave. It shows a brick exterior and trimwork in a traditional colonial style.

"I favor this concept," he said. "We need more of it downtown."

The block where Pinnacle plans to construct the building is adjacent to several blocks of Central Business zoned areas on one side and mostly multi-family zoned areas on one corner of its property on the block at West New Hampshire and Page Street.

The zoning amendment will cover Central Business District core downtown bounded by Connecticut and Massachusetts avenues and Bennett and Ashe streets on both sides of Broad Street.

Water Quality Issue Raised

During the hearing, attorney Marsh Smith, who specializes in environmental issues, said he thinks it's time to address just how much land Southern Pines still has that the state division of water quality will allow to be very densely developed under its regulations protecting water quality.

Officially, 600 acres is quoted as the amount of land the town has available to allow development to occur that exceeds 12 percent of impervious surface (roads, parking lots and buildings), Smith said. But he said in a later telephone interview, he disputes this, saying it might be much less.

The area is designated as the location of High Quality Water (HQW) streams and ponds, particularly near the core downtown and across U.S. 1 to the Midland Road, Pine Needles and Mid Pines resort developments, and stretches all the way northward to Camp Easter Road and along N.C. 22.

"Every time you cover more than 12 percent with impervious surface, you lose a whole acre of your allotted acreage," he said in a later interview. "HQW needs to be addressed by the town and how to use Southern Pines' remaining allotment. We could have a problem with developments downtown if we use up our density allotment on luxury new homes."

He added that a "responsible" planner would be closely monitoring the status.

The area is also inside a Watershed III territory designated by the state in 1993, which allows only up to 24 percent of a piece of developed property to be covered with impervious surface.

"We're piecemealing downtown Southern Pines," said Thompson, an attorney who has a a legal practice within several blocks of Broad Street. "If it's really a good idea for the downtown, and we need to have more residential uses downtown, please study whether this is a good change. ... "Look at the whole downtown, we need a cohesive plan for downtown."

Smith said he could further explain his view of the situation at a future council work session, possible in November, at Councilman David Woodruff's suggestion. Woodruff also wants to invite a representative of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources from Raleigh to verify the town's ability to keep allowing high density development in the HQW area.

Also during the meeting, the council appointed Abigail Dowd to a new three-year term, ending in 2009, on the advisory Planning and Zoning Board, and appointed Archie Morrison Jr. to complete the unexpired term of Bob Howell, who resigned.

McDeeds Creek Homeowners Association President Elizabeth Holden and two individual property owners expressed opposition to Pine Needles Village, a large proposed mixed-use development nearby, during the public-comment period.

Sara Lindau can be reached at 693-2473 or by e-mail at slindau@thepilot.com.