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At Monday’s meeting of the Stanly County Planning Board, the board unanimously voted to recommend a minimum size of five acres for land in areas designated as rural by the county’s land use plan.

In the current 2040 county land use plan, areas designated as “rural living” are recommended to have a minimum lot size of five acres, or 217,800 square feet.

The current county ordinance for such land falling in the residential/agricultural (R/A) zone calls for a minimum lot size of 40,000 square feet, or .92 acres, where county water or sewer are not available, and 30,000 when both water and sewer are available.

At the meeting, the board also recommended a new 25-foot setback requirement on the sides of lots.

“The increase in minimum lot size was one of the goals of the Stanly County Land Use Plan, which was adopted in November 2022,” Stanly planning director Bob Remsburg said in an email Tuesday. “The intention is to preserve farmland and wilderness areas of the county. The overall goal through the Land-Use Plan is to maintain the rural character of Stanly County. If adopted by the Commissioners as recommended, lots smaller than five acres could still be built upon, but any lot smaller than 10 acres could no longer be divided.”