Indoor golf and laser tag? Tabor City meetings tonight, Tuesday
A rezoning request for the “old shirt factory” building on Stake Road has prompted some concerns evidenced by signs just across the street. (Deuce Niven, TLT)
By DEUCE NIVEN
tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com
Indoor golf and perhaps laser tag could be coming to a former sewing plant in Tabor City, but the related zoning change is stirring some opposition.
A meeting of the town’s Planning and Zoning Board last Thursday ended in a one-week recess because of a procedural problem, Town Manager Josh Ward said this week.
William “Bill” Phipps, a Tabor City attorney, and his brother Buster Phipps of Loris, were present for the meeting last week and are hoping for more people to state objections during the recessed meeting set for 6:30 p.m. tonight (Thursday, April 3), at Town Hall.
“The voices of all concerned citizens living in that particular area should be heard before the Tabor City Planning Board renders its decision to the Tabor City Town Council, which will hold its meeting with the petitioner the following week on April 8, 2025 in the Ritz Center,” Buster Phipps said in a letter this week.
It’s complicated
Zoning law in Tabor City and across North Carolina has changed significantly during the past few years, Ward said, which can make it difficult to explain the decision making process not only to citizens, but to those charged with making those decisions.
Planning Board members, last week, had been expected to decide if a request from developer Ken Dennisson to change the zoning for the “old shirt factory building” at 600 Stake Road from Industrial to Mixed Use 2. Dennisson, however, “failed to provide evidence demonstrating they were authorized by the owner to apply for rezoning on their behalf,” Ward said.
Dennisson has since provided documentation that shows principals of CMAC LLC, the building’s owner, support the rezoning request. CMAC is owned by the Jones family of the former J&C Wholesale and Jones Store chain, Ward said.
Dennisson has told the town he intends to locate an indoor golf business in the old “shirt factory” building, and might add laser tag to the entertainment options there in the future.
That may be the central issue to those opposed to the rezoning request, but it’s not the question before the Planning Board, or ultimately the Town Council.
“The planning board recommends for the reasonableness and consistency of the request is it relates to the land use plan,” Ward said.
In other words, if Planning Board members believe the rezoning request reasonably conforms with the intent of the town zoning law for the area, it should approve the request. If that board finds it conflicts with the intent of the zoning law, it should vote to oppose.
Ultimately, the decision is up to the town council, expected to receive the Planning Board recommendation at its 7 p.m. meeting on April 8 at The Ritz Center downtown.
For more on this story see this week’s Tabor-Loris Tribune in print and online.
