A more than 100-year-old cotton mill will soon be spinning new life after the 55,000-square-foot Clayton Spinning Mill was approved for a rezoning.
The historic Clayton Spinning Mill located east of East Front Street and south of Central Street near the U.S. Post Office in Downtown Clayton once housed 100 workers and the whirl of more than 10,000 spindles before shuttering in 1976.
Bass, Nixon and Kennedy Inc. requested to rezone the entire property to Neighborhood Business (B-2) from a mixture of Central Business (B-1), Office-Institutional (O-I), Highway Business-Special Use District (B-3-SUD), and Residential-Estate (R-E).
Clayton planners said the rezoning of the property is in keeping with the intent of the Future Land Use Map and Comprehensive Plan, which encourage a focusing of development in areas that are already served by public infrastructure, and close to the downtown area. Also, the rezoning would provide for a better mix of uses across the parcels, that would support the neighboring uses and compliment the growth of the general area, particularly given the proximity to Main Street and Downtown Clayton.
The applicant has separately submitted a major site plan to renovate the historic Clayton Spinning Mill building into a loft apartment building with 25 apartments and build 8 new apartment buildings on the surrounding properties to the south and east of the mill building. Those plans are still in the technical review process and will eventually go the Clayton Planning Board for approval.
The Planning Board reviewed the rezoning request on May 29 and recommended the Council approve it. The Town Council gave their stamp of approval on the plan at their July 16th public meeting.
