County commissioners approved rezoning 5.4 acres on John Crotts Road from residential-agricultural to Industrial I special use.

Part of a 15-acre tract owned by Smith Grove and Mocksville First Methodist churches, the land is under contract to Candi Syrup, which will move its business of making a sweet product for the brewing industry to the site. It is between Lionheart Drive and Pete Foster Road in what Davie Planning Director Andrew Meadwell called a “secondary growth area.”

The building will be limited to 20,000 square feet, although the business doesn’t plan on starting that big. It has four employees now. The churches had asked for a general re-zoning, but planning board members balked at that idea, preferring the special use conditions that limit operations.

While the area is not served by public sewer and the company uses water in its product, most of that water goes out the door in the finished product. Traffic would be limited to a tractor-trailer about once a week, and delivery trucks such as UPS and FedEx.

Commissioner Dan Barrett said the county may need to look at its land use plan, which lists the property as residential. “If we’re going to use it (plan), we need to be consistent,” he said.

A neighboring property owner said it is a “rough piece of property” that likely could never be fully developed.

Commissioners unanimously approved the rezoning. “This is a suitable use,” Commissioner Richard Poindexter said.