Chocowinity Board of Commissioners will be looking at approval of some new businesses on a case-by-case basis.

Don Anthony and Deborah Jensen Vick, who plan to open a used car lot and service center, recently brought a rezoning amendment before the Board of Commissioners, requesting the town rezone the district surrounding 2956 U.S. Highway 17 South in Chocowinity.

The amendment requested the town amend zoning in district B1 for permitted use, meaning business owners would not have to get approval from the town to open their business. Until Tuesday night’s meeting, car lots and service centers in the B1 district were not allowed as either permitted use or conditional use, meaning business owners must meet certain conditions before approval to build the business comes from the town.

“If zoning is permitted use then anyone can go in and open that business. When it’s conditional use it gives the town more control over situations,” said town attorney Keith Mason. “It gives the council the chance to look at it on a case-by-case basis.”

The issue at Tuesday night’s town meeting and the subject of a public hearing before the board’s vote was the language of the ordinance that said anything given permitted use in district B1 was automatically given permitted use in district B2. Allowing a car lot in the B1 district would also allow them to be permitted in the B2 district, even though B2 is more residential.

Town commissioners saw no issue with the car lot, but, hoping to protect nearby residential areas in district B2, they turned down the application for permitted use car lots. Commissioners instead voted yes to the car lot and service center on a conditional basis in the B1 district.

“They want to keep B2 a little more restricted,” Mason said.

Now the business owners must seek approval for conditional use, first through the town’s planning board, then through the Board of Commissioners.

“They have to go back and make an application for a conditional use permit in B1,” Mason said.