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The Stanly County Board of Commissioners denied a conditional zoning request for a possible new car dealership.

By a vote of 6-0, the board denied the request by Ali Darwhich to rezone 2.5 acres of land at 24414 and 24426 N.C. Highway 24-27.

Chairman Bill Lawhon said he needed to recuse himself from the vote on the advice of county attorney Jenny Furr because he owns a property on which another car dealership in the company operates and leases Lawhon’s property.

Deborah Strzeskowski, whose property is next to the plots on N.C. 24-27, said she wanted to know what would happen to the property if it was sold. She said county staff told her the property would have to be rezoned.

Commissioners voiced concerns regarding the request. Vice Chairman Mike Barbee said he had reservations about setting a precedent which went against the county’s land use plan. The parcels of land are in a rural preservation area of the county plan.

“(The land use plan) was enacted to help preserve farmland, so that’s the way I’m looking at it,” Barbee said.

Commissioner Peter Asciutto, who eventually made the motion to deny the request, said requests like this are tough, but at this time he was “not willing to change our ordinance for that.”