Graham’s planning board gave the go-ahead to a local developer to pursue a rezoning request at the city council for a 143-unit townhouse development on about 24 acres on North Jim Minor Road, near the city’s Regional Park.
The board did add a few stipulations to its favorable recommendation to the city council, primarily in response to concerns from two residents, one beside and one across the street from the proposed project.
Responding to frequent complaints from mayor Jennifer Talley and other city council members (about other townhouse developments that have roadways they consider too narrow and result in parking problems), the developer provided for wider streets (31 feet) than have often been considered for most townhouse developments.
He also put a 17-foot wide pad (wide enough to accommodate two cars) in front of each single-car garage, thereby allowing the potential for a total of three parking spaces per unit for the three-bedroom townhouses.
He also included 19 additional parking spaces to be clustered around the mail kiosk.
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The developer included a gazebo, dog park, and four pickleball courts as amenities in the subdivision. Planning board members wanted to give some flexibility to drop the gazebo, but also suggested, instead, a children’s play area with equipment. Planning board chairman Dean Ward and others alluded to amenities promised by other developers that sometimes did not materialize, at least not to the extent described to planning board members or, subsequently, to city council members.
The development also includes an alternative to the traditional retention pond. To outward appearances, it will be a carved out grassy field at the back of the subdivision, but water will be able trickle through the soil to a collection pond underneath.
The developer asked for only one deviation from the city’s development ordinance, a not infrequent request to allow buildings to be 20, rather than 25, feet away from each other.
But it was the potential height of those buildings that drew scrutiny from the planning board members.
While the general description was for two-story townhouses, the developer’s spokesman, Scott Krusell, said the plan is drawn to have “flexibility” to allow up to 50 feet in height, in case the developer decides to put in some three-story models.
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Planning board members ultimately restricted the 10 townhouses in two buildings closest to Angela and Jeffery Willis’ property to the west of the subdivision to have no more than two stories.
Planning board chairman Ward also insisted on, and inserted into his motion for approval, that the front side of the development have a three-foot berm with eight-foot high plantings sufficient to conceal the view of the back of the townhouses from Jim Minor Road.
The planning board ultimately approved Ward’s motion on a 4-1 vote. In addition to Ward, those voting in favor were Tony Bailey, Michael Benesch, and John Wooten.
Planning board member James Stockert voted against, explaining to The Alamance News after the meeting that he still objected to the 50-foot height and to the lack of open space provided.
Angela Willis and the homeowner across the road, Lisa Baker, both expressed concerns about now having a dense townhouse development so close by. Developer Shawn Cummings volunteered to the two women that he would agree to plant a vegetative screen on their properties to shield them even more from the view of the subdivision, but that was not made a part of the planning board’s consideration or recommendation.
The city council will likely consider the rezoning at its next meeting on June 10.
In other action, the board agreed to recommend a rezoning at 1205 East Harden Street (NC 54) to allow multiple tenants in a strip center on 5.11 acres in an area zoned for light industrial use.
The engineer for the project is Chad Huffine, who is a member of Graham’s planning board, but he sat out this item on the dais, instead presenting the request, which ultimately passed 5-0.
Meanwhile, with Huffine joining the panel, it voted 6-0 to postpone consideration of a new ordinance proposing to establish standards for tobacco, CBD, and vape shops in order to allow the proposal to be reviewed by the police department and the city’s legal team.
