The Garner Planning Commission on Oct. 13 accepted staff’s consistency statement for a conditional rezoning request for the Arden Subdivision but voted to recommend denial to town council, citing transportation and access concerns.

Erin Joseph, planning staff, told commissioners the applicant is requesting a tier-2 conditional rezoning of 54.4 acres in the town's extraterritorial jurisdiction near the northeast corner of 1010 Road and Old Stage Road. The application would change the site from Residential Agricultural to Residential-4 Conditional to allow development of 136 single-family detached units. Joseph said the applicant has limited potential uses to single-family detached homes and proposed dimensional standards including 53-foot lot widths, 120-foot lot lengths and 6-foot interior side setbacks.

The project team told the commission they had completed items requested at a Sept. 8 continuation hearing. Hunter Winstead, attorney for Mungo Homes, said the applicant had added three conditions: designing stormwater controls for a 100-year storm event (the team described the measure as detention, not retention), committing a minimum of 60 linear feet of green infrastructure as a Green Street solution, and restricting the detention-basin vegetative aquatic shelf to native species. Winstead said the sewer-capacity study had been approved by the City of Raleigh. "Folks, that's the homework that we've done," Winstead said.

Traffic, access and right-of-way were central to the discussion. Tyler Blang of Exalt Engineering said the project's traffic impact analysis (TIA) estimated 1,340 daily trips from the development, with about 99 trips in the AM peak hour and 133 trips in the PM peak hour. The TIA modeled the primary 1010 Road egress as operating at Level of Service C in the AM peak and Level of Service D in the PM peak; the consultant said the PM delay measured 25.7 seconds, 0.7 seconds worse than the LOS-C threshold used in the analysis, and that NCDOT standards consider LOS-D acceptable in many contexts.

Commissioners raised several recurring concerns: (1) the site has a single constructed access to 1010 Road, with other potential stubs dependent on future property transactions; (2) irregular and jagged parcel boundaries along the southern edge, which commissioners said could hinder future infill and street extensions; and (3) the development agreement and required right-of-way dedications were not finalized, leaving uncertainty about whether the necessary frontage and roadway improvements would be provided.

Town attorney Terry Jones told the commission that the draft development agreement anticipates the developer using commercially reasonable efforts to acquire needed right-of-way. "If they are not, then the town would agree to use its power of eminent domain to make that happen," Jones said, adding that, by practice, developers typically cover the town's costs for any acquisition so that taxpayers are not charged. Jones and other staff also said that as typical practice the town can accept a fee in lieu if voluntary acquisition cannot be achieved.

Applicant representatives said they had submitted a draft development agreement to the town attorney and that comments were largely minor. They also said the family-owned parcels between 1010 Road and the proposed subdivision contain cremation remains and that the current plan intentionally avoids disturbing those areas; the applicant said sellers had expressed a desire to remain on portions of their property for the near term.

Commissioners debated whether the existing access and the timing of off-site right-of-way acquisitions and road widening (a town and regionally planned long-term project that staff said could be years or decades away) created unacceptable risk. Staff noted the widening of 1010 Road is included in the regional metropolitan transportation plan as a four-lane corridor in a long-range horizon year (staff estimated the full project could be 15 years or more out), and that subdivision rules require dedication to the ultimate cross-section when development occurs.

Commissioner Ralph Carson moved that the commission "accept the consistency statement" prepared by staff but recommend denial of case CZMP24005 to town council on the grounds that transportation infrastructure "is not suitable and adequate for the proposed uses." Commissioner Michael Boylan seconded. The motion passed 6-0, with commissioners Shane Banks, Ralph Carson, Philip Jefferson (chair), Geehan Hodges, Ben Mills and Michael Boylan voting aye.

The commission's action is a recommendation to town council; council will hold public hearings and make the final decision on the rezoning request. If the council proceeds, staff and the applicant said development agreements and any required right-of-way dedications, easements or fee-in-lieu arrangements would need to be finalized through that separate process.

The applicant had offered site amenities including a playground, pickleball courts, a minimum 6-foot paved trail system and a single on-site stormwater control measure. Staff flagged the Green Street commitment and 100-year stormwater design as improvements that strengthened consistency with the town's adopted land-use plan, but transportation and access effects led commissioners to recommend denial.