Residents from a neighborhood surrounding a proposed bar spoke out in opposition Tuesday night arguing the bar would disturb their neighborhood and tempt the recovering alcoholics and drug addicts seeking refuge at a nearby treatment center.

The proposed site for the bar was on Highway 220 North near the Dockery Road intersection. The hearing was held before the Richmond County Planning and Zoning Board of Adjustment.

Harold Pearson with Samaritan Colony said the treatment center is about a mile from the proposed club and would be a trigger for those recovering.

“One of the compliments we’ve had is that we’re in a secluded area with few distractions,” Pearson said. “Half of the people we serve, just knowing a mile down the road they would be serving alcohol, would be tempted. Especially on the weekends.”

Herbert Dawkins, 69, whose house is about three tenths of a mile from the proposed bar said he didn’t want the bar ruining his quiet and peaceful retirement.

“I don’t have a house at the beach or the mountains, this is my retirement, and I don’t want to hear boom, boom, boom every night. They can’t keep the noise inside the bar with those cars and their boomboxes. I don’t want to deal with drunks, because when it starts irritating me they’re going to need the sheriff out there and I’ll fight this till the end,” Dawkins said.

“For the last 20 years it’s been a quiet, good neighborhood,” he continued. “You can imagine the problems it’ll bring with it. Drugs, shootings. Will it bring taxes and money into the county looking at who this is?”

“If they want this so bad, they need to go back where they came from and trash their own neighborhoods,” said Annette Dawkins, Herbert Dawkins’ wife.

She also said the bar would ruin the beautification efforts that have been done along Highway 220.

The applicant, Pedro Torres, sat and watched quietly throughout the entire public hearing.

Thomas Randall Strickland, who owns a business across the street from the proposed bar said his concern was regarding the activity in that area after hours, since his business has already been broken into before.

“I also ask that you question the fact the bar would have an entrance on a very busy highway and it would be the first thing people see coming out of Ellerbe into Rockingham,” Strickland said.

The board went back and forth on the issue for about 20 minutes after closing the public hearing.

Board member Fred Morris said according to site plans and county zoning, the bar fell within the approved uses for the Highway Commercial Overlay district. The zoning also states that a commercial property can’t be within 500 feet of a residential property and the bar also met that rule.

But when it came to the four conclusions of law questions the board has to ask itself when considering a conditional use permit, two board members, William Cipriani Jr. and Diane Honeycutt said the proposed bar would “substantially injure the value of adjoining or abutting property.”

And because there has to be a six to one majority for anything to pass, the request for a conditional use permit for the bar was denied. Torres will now have to take the matter to the Richmond County Superior Court if he wishes to appeal the decision.

During this hearing, board member Gerald Witherspoon recused himself from the board, and was replaced by Cipriani, because the property of the proposed bar had been purchased by Torres from Witherspoon’s niece.

Also denied Tuesday night was a request from Garrett Johnson for a billboard on Highway 220. The board denied it on the basis that it didn’t meet the county’s guidelines that billboards have to be 1,000 feet away from each other on the same side of the road, and 750 feet apart from signs on the opposite side of the road.

But it was good news for Ernest Bryant of Hamlet as the board approved his conditional use permit to operate a game room in Hamlet at the intersection of Mill Road and Broad Street. The permit was approved on the condition that property owner Lonnie Swink has the property surveyed out to subdivide the lot the game room sits on, from the lot his residence sits on, since no business had operated in the commercial building for more than 180 days. This was required in order for the business to conform to the county’s zoning regulations.

During the planning board part of the meeting, the board discussed amendments they’ve made to the county’s Tower Ordinance, which will be presented to the county board of commissioners during their next meeting.

The board also briefly discussed amending the county’s sign regulations, but will pick up the topic again during next month’s meeting.