Burlington’s planning and zoning commission has given its unanimous nod to a pair of rezoning requests that would allow a new residential project to set down stakes near the city’s largest residential development.
During their latest meeting last Monday, the commission’s members voted 6-to-0 to endorse these interrelated requests, which seek medium density residential zoning for two adjacent parcels at the western edge of Burlington’s municipal limits.
This two-part proposal was presented to the planning commission that evening by former city engineer Todd Lambert, who retired from Burlington’s employ earlier this year. The property which Lambert has asked the city to rezone consists of 15.6 acres of vacant land that belongs a limited liability corporation connected to local real estate investor Shawn Cummings.
The site of this prospective development is located on either side of the Guilford-Alamance county line – with roughly two thirds of the acreage in Guilford, where it is currently zoned for agricultural use. The remainder of the property lies in Alamance County and is designated for medium industrial development.
According to Burlington’s planning director Jamie Lawson, the proposed site of this development appears to have road access into each of the counties it straddles. On the Alamance County side, its traffic would spill out onto Inglewood Road – a dead end street within a small subdivision beside Mackintosh on the Lake, the largest residential development in Burlington. The traffic from the proposed development would eventually enter Mackintosh by way of Ingle Dairy Road and then follow Bonnar Bridge Parkway to reach Mackintosh’s primary outlet.
Lambert’s requests ultimately drew comments from four people who were on hand during the planning commission’s meeting. Although one of the speakers supported the proposed change, the other three opposed it based on the denser development it would foster and the additional traffic it’s likely to bring to the area. The planning commission was nevertheless well disposed to the requests, which it recommended to the city council by a vote of 6-to-0.
