Burlington’s planning and zoning commission has endorsed a rezoning request that would allow developer Shawn Cummings to expand a residential subdivision which he already has the city’s permission to build near the Guilford-Alamance border.
The planning commission voted 6-to-0 on Monday to recommend that Burlington’s city council approve Cummings’ latest request, which concerns a 5.97-acre slice of a 22-acre, industrially-zoned parcel at 4107 Charlie Ingle Lane.
Todd Lambert, a civil engineer in the developer’s employ, told the commission’s members that the nearly 6 acres under consideration are effectively cut off from the rest of the property by wetlands – making them all but inaccessible from Charlie Ingle Lane.
Lambert nevertheless noted that Cummings plans to incorporate this landlocked acreage into a residential development which he already has in the works off of Inglewood Road to the south. Lambert noted that Cummings ultimately plans to incorporate this nearly 6-acre swath into a 42-unit development that’s already in the works to the south. He went on to observe that the additional acreage would allow the developer to reach his original goal for the number of homes within his proposed subdivision.
“We were hoping for about 50 units [in the previously-approved subdivision],” Lambert acknowledged, “But we went through the [technical review] process, and it was even less than what I had been hoping for.
“This addition here,” he added, “gets us to 51 lots.”
Under the developer’s rezoning request, the designated use of the 5.97 acres would shift from light industrial to medium density residential use. It’s road access would, moreover, be diverted toward Inglewood Road – a dead end byway that Cummings plans to extend into his previously-approved residential development.
Jamie Lawson, the city’s planning director, informed the planning commission’s members that the developer’s latest requested zoning would leave the 5.97-acre swath with a maximum density of about 4.85 units per acre. She went on to compare this density with a nearby section of Mackintosh on the Lake – the largest residential development within Burlington’s municipal limits as well as the ultimate destination for any traffic that emanates from Cummings’ proposed development.
The proposed Medium Density Residential zoning brings the property more into compliance with the future land use plan,” the city’s planning director added in her formal recommendation to the planning commission. “It also allows the opportunity for additional infill housing.”
Neighbors hold their peace
The proximity of Mackintosh on the Lake had originally caused quite the kerfuffle when Cummings first brought his plans for Inglewood Road before Burlington’s municipal leaders. Lambert conceded that there wasn’t nearly as much controversy when the developer held a community meeting about the subdivision’s proposed 5.97-acre expansion.
“A lot of neighbors were just confused and thought that the entire parcel was up for rezoning,” he went on to recall of the community meeting, which he said attracted about 12 people.
Prior to the planning commission’s meeting on Monday, three individuals sent written objections to the city about Cummings’ latest rezoning request. These pre-meeting submissions raised concerns about road access and additional traffic as well as the potential impact that the subdivision’s proposed expansion would have on public services.
Lambert told The Alamance News that the authors of these three submissions weren’t among the attendees at the aforementioned community meeting. He gathered that, like some of the community meeting’s participants, this trio had mistakenly assumed Cummings wanted to rezone the entire 22-acre lot along Charlie Ingle Lane, and he predicted they wouldn’t be as opposed to the request once it became clear that it concerned less than 6 acres of land.
In the end, the only neighbor who attended the planning commission’s meeting had nothing to say before the group’s members voted 6-to-0 to recommend to rezoning request to Burlington’s city council.
Tower of power
The city’s planning commission also gave its unanimous endorsement to a request from Alamance County’s government to erect a 70-foot telecommunications tower at 780 Plantation Drive – an interstate service road that overlooks the westbound lanes of I-85/40.
The county is preparing to convert an existing building at this location into a new home for its 9-1-1 center. Brian Baker, one of the county’s assistant managers, informed the planning commission that the proposed telecom tower would be used strictly for the county’s emergency services if approved by the city council.
David Phillips, the owner of an adjacent parcel, inquired whether this tower would disrupt cell phone communications for him and other neighboring landowners. Baker assured the property owner that, as far as he knows, it wouldn’t.
“It’s my understanding that this is radio only,” Baker replied before the commission’s 6-to-0 endorsement, “and it won’t have an effect on cell phones.”
