The council heard from opponents and advocates, mostly the same people who spoke at an advisory Planning and Zoning board public hearing in November.
Harris Varge Development Co. of Charlotte is seeking a conditional-use permit for the subdivision. The site is in a Residential Single Family zoning district that allows the maximum number of 173 homes as a permitted use.
Also on Tuesday, re-elected Councilmen Chris Smithson and David Woodruff took the oath of office from the town clerk. They were elected to four-year terms in November. Both were elected to two-year terms in 2003 as the council shifted to a system of four-year staggered terms.
The top two vote-getters and the mayor were elected to four-year terms in 2003. The third- and fourth-place finishers, Smithson and Woodruff, won two-year terms.
In 2007, the seats held by Councilmen Fred Walden and Mike Haney and Mayor Frank Quis will be up for election.
Woodruff nominated Smithson for mayor pro tem since he got the most votes of all four candidates running for two seats last month. His motion died for lack of a second. The council instead re-elected Walden as mayor pro ter and Haney as treasurer.
In the reorganization of council following the 2003 election, when Walden was top vote-getter and Haney came in next, fellow council members elected them to their present positions.
The council elects a mayor pro tem and treasurer at the first meeting following an election.
Supporters of the subdivision, called The Arboretum, include the principals of the development company and landscape architect Robert Hayter of The Hayter Firm, who designed the packaged subdivision that contains multiple streets.
A number of people living adjacent to the site, including Larry Martin and his wife, have expressed concern about headlights from cars going in and out of the Arboretum on Knoll Road shining into their residential property.
The Martins live at 165 Knoll Road. Their property is within 30 feet of the proposed development near where Knoll Road intersects with Midland Road.
The main entrance is on Knoll Road, which runs from Midland Road to Morganton Road behind Pinecrest Plaza.
The Martins and others have expressed concerns about safety because the main driveway would be so close to the Midland Road location. They would like the developer to move the entrance road an additional 30 feet south of where it is now, to improve sight distances for people leaving The Arboretum.
Members of the town’s advisory Planning Board recommended that the council approve the permit, but also suggested that the town consider concerns about access points.
The council’s continuance of the public hearing will allow members to study the issues and documents submitted by various speakers.
Hayter has said a 30-foot wide buffer will be set aside surrounding the Arboretum property that could be planted with fast-growing landscaping.
The developers have agreed tentatively to build an extension to the end of their property line on the southwest border that will align with Eastman Road, a dead-end street that stops within several hundred feet of the Arboretum property boundary. Eastman Road runs from West Pennsylvania Avenue through an unincorporated area known as Lost City.
Ultimately, Eastman can be connected all the way through, accessing Midland Road and Pennsylvania Avenue, creating another throughfare similar to Knoll Road, which would provide another alternative route to avoid the Traffic Circle and other busy highways. Knoll Road runs from Airport Road through Longleaf Country Club, crosses Midland and ends on Morganton Road. It was designed to divert traffic away from the circle in Pinehurst.
In other business Tuesday, the council delayed until the next meeting a vote on a rezoning application from Niagara Farm to change more than 82 acres from RS-3 to Rural Estates. The property is on the east side of the Niagara-Carthage Road on Columbine. The delay was requested by the property owner.
The council approved the annual certifications of firemen, architectural plans for the Forest Creek Fitness Center, certified the election results and re-appointed Appearance Commission volunteer members to new three-year terms. These are: Tom Worth, Greg Zywocinski, Blanche Woodruff, Joyce Jackson and Darlene Horton.
Sara Lindau can be reached at 693-2473 or by e-mail at slindau@thepilot.com.
