Opposed were Chairman Hal Jernigan and Sallie Jones, two of the three Scotland County appointees. All city appointees approved the measure.
The proposal will come before Laurinburg City Council Aug. 18, where it is expected to set a public hearing for Sept. 21.
The plan calls for 5.27 acres to be rezoned from residential to general business conditional use district.
The request was revised from earlier this year. The original proposal called for a 7.73 acres of land to be rezoned for for general business zoning. The difference between the two requests are that the conditional use permit would allow city council to set specific criteria for the property that can only be changed by an appearance before council, regardless of site ownership.
The smaller track of land means the land will accommodate fewer businesses. The original plan called for two retailers and a restaurant while the new plans calls for just one retailer and a restaurant.
CBS, LLC, a Rockingham-based developer, was initially scheduled to go before the board June 10, but Kenneth Robinette, the company's owner, withdrew the application to revise the request and because of scheduling conflicts.
CBS hopes to zone the property to facilitate building a Staples on an adjacent lot.
"We make this request to entice retail and restaurants to Laurinburg," Robinette said in his initial request. "Having the proper zoning in place for potential commercial users is preferable to rezoning after generating interest."
Robinette expanded on this statement to the board, saying that, with the economic slump, retail companies want a "shovel ready" site.
"I want the city [to] have control over this piece of property"
Robinette told board members he had come to a compromise with some of the property owners.
"I want to do what's right and I know what their concerns are."
He said his property would have a 50-foot buffer with a privacy fence to shield residential properties from the development.
He also said that he was only rezoning two of three residential tracks of land. The third track, 1.8 acres of undeveloped land, would be used as a green space.
Robinette also said he needed the additional retailers to pay for road improvements.
"The estimate for the improvements is $700,000, which is to be borne exclusively by the developer. It is not economically feasible to pay for the road improvements with one commercial tenant on the property."
Jernigan took issue with the road improvements.
He said he did not see how the recommended improvements could deal with the problem and speculated that it could worsen traffic on West Boulevard.
Nathan Monroe was one of about 20 people to show up to oppose the measure.
"The traffic is our big concern," he said. "We are also concerned about the houses directly behind the barrier."
He said homeowners were worried about declining property values. He said other areas may be better suited to a Staples.
He mentioned the Winn Dixie shopping center near Lowes as a possibility.
Robinette was quick to point out that he does not own the shopping center and is advocating for his own property's interests.
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