Neighbors press water, safety and character concerns as commissioners approve Salih land‑use change with tighter BDP

Carmine Ferraro represented Sammy and Violet Salih in a companion request to amend the future land use (NC & Res2 → CC) and rezone the property (AU → BU1) at the US‑1/Lynel Road intersection in District 1. Ferraro outlined a revised binding development plan (BDP) that removed gasoline service as a permitted use and promised vegetative buffers and a detention pond.

Residents from Lionel/Lisonbee Road and parents of Pinewood Elementary pupils urged the board to deny or modify the request. One neighbor said he had invested more than $165,000 and “would never ever have bought that property if I knew a gas station or whatever kind of commercial property is gonna go in there,” and others raised concerns about fragile private wells, prior well contamination and increased traffic near a school.

In response to public concern, Ferraro and commissioners negotiated additional BDP conditions on the record: an eastern buffer increased to 100 feet (previously 50), a 50‑foot northern buffer, the detention pond placed at the northeast of the site, access limited to U.S.‑1 (not Lionel), signage along US‑1 only, and a restriction on deliveries between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. The board approved the future land‑use amendment and the rezoning with the binding development plan; votes recorded as 4‑1 on the FLU amendment and 4‑1 (later clarified as 5‑0 with Commissioner Goodson recorded in favor) on the rezoning motion in the transcript.