Committee recommends rezoning of 87-acre Wilson Road property for planned residential development

Chair Jeffrey Whitten said the Law and Ordinance Committee met Monday and unanimously voted to move a rezoning recommendation to full council for a planned residential development on Wilson Road.

Mr. Tetherington, a staff member presenting the item, said the request covers roughly 87 acres and would rezone three parcels and approve a general plan for a new subdivision. "It was discussed and unanimously recommended by the planning commission," he said. He described the proposal as a planned development residential request rather than a conventional district rezoning.

Tetherington said the preliminary submittal includes a layout of three similar but slightly different lot groups and noted the project "does comply with the comprehensive plan, as well as the subdivision regulations." He added that stormwater calculations are required before construction and "they don't discharge any more than what was being discharged previously." He also said stormwater reports are normally reviewed later in the process: "At the preliminary plan rezoning stage, they don't typically submit that."

Committee members pressed staff on flooding and traffic. Tetherington said some lots and an entrance drive cross areas in the FEMA floodplain and that the developer must follow applicable FEMA and subdivision regulations. On traffic, he said counts from 2021 showed about "2,000" vehicles per day on Wilson Road and that the property does not have continuous frontage along Wilson; no road improvements are proposed at this stage. He said another nearby rezoning with extensive frontage will require a traffic impact study, but this project, with two entrances, did not trigger roadwork now.

Council member Michael Phillips described his experience with subdivision stormwater systems, saying the retention and detention ponds have performed during heavy rains. "The retention detention ponds and all of the runoff that has been captured have presented 0 issues over 16 years that I've been on council," Phillips said, and recounted a construction incident in which a developer corrected a problem within an hour during an extreme rain event.

Tetherington also said the developer proposed green-space improvements and on-site amenities as part of the planned development.

The committee voted unanimously to "move forward to council" with the rezoning recommendation; members recorded no request for emergency legislation.

Next steps: the item will be placed on the full council agenda for formal consideration, where more detailed stormwater calculations, traffic studies and final subdivision plans will be reviewed before any building permits are approved.