The town's board of aldermen voted unanimously Tuesday night to change a zoning ordinance, allowing construction signs on property alongside Business 40 and Interstate 40 to have a maximum of 150 square feet and reach 24 feet high.
The action changed the town's zoning rule within Forsyth County's Unified Development Ordinance that governs development in the county's seven municipalities. Under the previous ordinance, a construction sign could not exceed 18 square feet and 8 feet in height.
Jeff Hatling, Kernersville's community-development director, recommended that the aldermen change the town's zoning ordinance and allow the new limits on the signs, saying that FedEx Ground Package System Inc., Kernersville Medical Center and Triad Business Park need the change for their construction projects along the two highways.
FedEx Ground plans to build a 400,000-square-foot hub in the Triad Business Park at Old Greensboro Road and West Market Street in Guilford County.
It will be within the Kernersville town limits. The hub will employ 750 people and is scheduled to open by the summer of 2011.
Kernersville Medical Center, which is being built by Forsyth Medical Center, will be a 50-bed hospital that local officials hope will spur economic growth. It is being built off Macy Grove and Wishbone Farm roads in eastern Kernersville next to the Forsyth-Guilford county line.
The hospital will cost $84 million to build and is expected to bring more than 300 jobs and a $17 million payroll to Kernersville. The hospital is scheduled to open by 2010.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported in October 2008 that Samet Corp. of Greensboro had begun site work for a "spec building" in the 378-acre Triad Business Park, which is off East Mountain Street and Old Greensboro Road east of Kernersville.
Under the new ordinance, developers will be limited to one sign that is required to face I-40 or Business 40.
In other business, the aldermen unanimously approved the closing of a section of Stafford Annex within the Forest Park subdivision in Kernersville. Stafford Annex will be closed between 131 Forest Drive and 153 Forest Drive. That section is enclosed by tracts owned by six Kernersville residents, according to a town record.
The aldermen also approved the rezoning of 2.89 acres off Michael Street so the town can build a new public-works building.
■ John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or at jhinton@wsjournal.com.
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