Smithfield council denies annexation and rezoning for 498-acre Bellamy development after residents raise traffic, farm-operations concerns

The Town of Smithfield Town Council voted 5-0 on Oct. 8 to deny a developer petition to annex roughly 498.3 acres and to deny a conditional rezoning that would have allowed construction of 1,147 residential units in a project called Bellamy.

The outcome followed more than three hours of staff presentation, expert testimony and public comment that centered on traffic, sewer capacity, stormwater and compatibility with an adjacent hog farm owned and operated by members of the Youngblood family.

The proposed Bellamy master plan would have included 870 detached single-family lots and 277 townhome lots across four build phases, and staff said the project’s gross density would be about 2.4 dwelling units per acre. The developer also offered a large public-access/open-space package — labelled in materials as roughly 125 acres of parkland dedication — and internal amenities including a 5-acre primary amenity and pocket parks.

Planning staff presented the project as consistent with the town’s future land-use map, stating the development fit the town’s “low density” guidance of 1–4 units per acre and noting the plan’s internal mix of lot sizes and buffers. The planning director also described required utilities: a developer-funded pump station and new sewer lines to connect to the town system, looped water lines, and electric service from Duke Energy. Staff recommended approval with conditions, including clarifications to parking, HOA responsibilities, and a 30-foot public trail easement in lieu of the larger parkland dedication.

Traffic and public-safety experts said the site was within reach of two regional corridors, Interstate 42 (US-70) and Wilsons Mills Road. The project’s traffic engineer, Will Letchworth, said preliminary estimates put daily trip generation at about 9,661 vehicles per day at full build-out and that, based on published NCDOT figures, Wilsons Mills Road has capacity to carry substantially more traffic than it currently does. Letchworth said approximately 65% of new trips were expected to head north toward the interstate and the remainder south toward Smithfield, and he noted a required traffic impact analysis would be reviewed by NCDOT before driveway permits were issued.

Developer representatives said the plan concentrated higher-density townhome units toward the interior of the site, proposed an enhanced planted berm and landscape buffer adjacent to the farm, and offered to work with adjacent landowners on road access questions. The developer also told council the project would be phased and that infrastructure — including pump stations and sewer capacity fees — would be paid by the developer. Shane Stanley of the town utilities staff told council the town had sewer capacity and confirmed that capacity fees (reported in the meeting as about $11 per gallon) are paid by developers and used to purchase county capacity.

But residents and nearby landowners pressed the council on several persistent concerns. Multiple speakers said the project would intensify traffic on narrow, two-lane rural roads with blind curves; raised public-safety worries about emergency response distances and mutual-aid impacts; and said floodplain and wetlands on-site make the site less developable than the acreage figure implies. Several speakers also raised compatibility problems with the adjacent hog farm: odor, the frequency and size of livestock-truck deliveries, nighttime movements during production cycles, and the ability of farm vehicles and 18-wheelers to access the farm if the northern road connection was realigned as shown on the developer’s plan.

Attorney Andy Pettish, speaking for the Youngblood family, showed aerial detail and argued the farm’s buildings, lagoons and spray fields sit close to the proposed lots. He and other speakers said that standard separation distances used in state guidance would be far larger than the distances shown on the master plan and that buffers or visual screening would not mitigate odor or nighttime-scheduling impacts.

The Town of Smithfield planning board had previously recommended denial, citing incompatibility with surrounding land uses and reservation about proximity to the hog farm; the planning board chair, Mark Glain, told council the board considered the project to exceed the comp-plan guidance in practice because of the presence of attached units and the effect on the rural edge. Wilsons Mills planning director Wendy Oldham also addressed council, saying Wilsons Mills’ future land-use plan would not support this scale of residential on the ETJ and noting cross-jurisdictional implications for emergency response and fire protection.

After public comment and deliberation, a council motion to deny both the voluntary annexation (ANX-25-04) and the conditional rezoning (CCZ-25-05) passed by recorded tally (5–0). The council did not adopt any of the staff’s proposed conditions or move the matter to a future hearing after the vote.

“Those in favor?” the mayor asked before the roll; the meeting minutes record the vote as five in favor and the motion carried.

The developer team said it would consider next steps, including revising the master plan to address concerns and potential re-submittal. Staff noted that if the applicants re-file, the project would again require conditional rezoning review, coordination with NCDOT, environmental permitting and further site design work including stormwater controls and detailed traffic analysis.

Votes at a glance: - ANX-25-04 (voluntary annexation of ~498.283 acres): Council vote to deny 5–0. Motion carried. - CCZ-25-05 (Bellamy conditional rezoning; 1,147 units): Council vote to deny 5–0. Motion carried.

What’s next: Denial ends the current application but does not legally bar the property owner from submitting a revised plan or a new application. If a new application is filed, council and staff said it would go through the same public-notice, planning-board and public-hearing sequence, and then be subject to NCDOT, DEQ/Army Corps and other permitting reviews required for construction.