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Council approves Mallard Crossing rezoning amendment, requires annexation
Summary
The Smithfield Board of Commissioners approved a conditional rezoning amendment for Mallard Crossing (CZ-25-03), reducing overall units from the previously approved plan, adding age-targeted housing and private recreation amenities, and requiring voluntary annexation into the town.
The Smithfield Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a conditional rezoning amendment (CZ-25-03) for Mallard Crossing, a mixed residential development along Mallard Road, and attached a condition requiring the developer to voluntarily annex the property to the Town of Smithfield.
The amendment, proposed by Mallard Smithfield NC LLC, reduces the previously approved Woodleaf density from 2,005 units to 1,327 units and removes 824 apartments from the earlier plan. The developer said the revised plan includes 873 single-family homes and 454 single-family attached/townhome units, five product types, two clubhouses with pools, playgrounds, dog parks and a private multiuse trail along a Duke Energy easement. The developer team told council the changes lower daily traffic and make the project financially feasible by reducing initial multifamily product and budgeting roughly $10.3 million of off-site water and sewer improvements.
Planning staff said the master plan is consistent with the town’s comprehensive plan and the Unified Development Ordinance as a conditional zoning proposal; staff recommended approval with conditions. Planning staff noted a number of site constraints including wetlands, blue-line streams and a high-voltage Duke Energy line bisecting the property and said the developer will provide an easement for a future trail but does not propose to build the full trail immediately.
Developer representatives emphasized market constraints and infrastructure costs as drivers of the redesign. “We reduced the units from 2,005 to 1,327 and removed 824 apartments,” Mark Laskoski, speaking for the applicant team, told council. Paul Luck of Contender Development said the mix of five product types is meant to accelerate construction and attract a range of buyers; he added the team expects to build multiple product lines simultaneously so the community can be completed faster than the previous plan would have allowed. “The reduction in units and the infrastructure investment makes this project viable,” Luck said.
Council and staff discussed pedestrian and trail connections, including a private trail in the Duke Power easement and the possibility of future public trail easements connecting to adjacent properties and the power-station area. Planning staff confirmed the developer will provide an easement for potential future public trail connections from the point where their trail stops to the edge of the development.
Council member David Barber moved approval and the motion passed unanimously. As approved, the amendment includes seven conditions (as described in the staff report) and the developer agreed to voluntary annexation of the project into the town.
The developer said engineering and permitting work would begin immediately in order to submit a preliminary plat and 30% construction documents, with grading and utility work expected in 2026 and homes delivered beginning in 2027.
Votes at a glance: CZ-25-03 (Mallard Crossing) — Motion to approve amendment with seven conditions and voluntary annexation: approved unanimously.
The developer and planning staff said additional design detail (preliminary plat, stormwater specifics, landscape and end-unit treatments) will be addressed at the construction-plan and subdivision-review stages.
