Graham’s city council will take up consideration of rezoning for a proposed new 42-unit townhouse subdivision off NC 54 Monday night, to allow a so-called infill project that takes vacant land sandwiched between other subdivisions.
In the case of the newest project, a Greensboro developer, Triad Classic Homes, is proposing to build up to 42 one-story townhouses, or patio-style homes targeting seniors, on 7.8 acres off Sunset Drive near NC 54.
During an October 17 planning board meeting, the proposal generally got a favorable reaction, before being approved 5-0 by those members present. Planning board chairman Dean Ward and planning board member James Stockert were absent. Voting in favor were Michael Benesch, Chad Huffine, Tony Bailey, Jerome Bias, and John Wooten.
Wooten told the developer he thought it was a “fine idea” to target seniors in a project that developer Ned Pierce and attorney Amanda Hodierne said would be age-targeted but not deed restricted.
Pierce said he estimated that the homes would sell in the low $300s, based on current market conditions.
All are set up as one level units, with two bedrooms and another room designated as “flex space,” which could be a home office or another bedroom; all units will have a one-car garage.
Sidewalks will be put on one side of each street; amenities will include a walking path and a “gathering gazebo.”
Hodierne suggested that the conditional rezoning being sought for the project was appropriate in an part of town that could have “some density.”
There will be one entrance and exit, off Sunset Drive, where another developer won approval in March 2020 to build 19 single-family houses on a three-acre lot that forms an island, or donut hole, near the new townhouse project, also on Sunset Drive.
That developer, Brandon Martin, had modified his original proposal, which was for 37 townhouses. While his revised, single-family project was still opposed by some neighbors, the revised plan passed the planning board 6-1 and the city council on a 4-1 vote.
Then council member-now mayor Jennifer Talley was the dissenting vote, as she argued that the density should be reduced below the 19 homes proposed.
