The Clayton Town Council approved a substantial deviation to the Magnolia Point special-use permit, allowing revisions to a previously recorded SUP and associated preliminary plat. The council adopted ordinance 2025-07-01 following a quasi-judicial hearing in which the applicant presented expert testimony and evidence addressing the four statutory findings required under the town's UDO.
Mattamy Homes seeks to develop a roughly 14-acre parcel on Shotwell Road with townhomes; the developer proposed reducing the originally approved 68 units to 59, moving some buildings and the cul-de-sac to reduce grading and improve street layout, adding on-street parking outside travel lanes and raising roof pitches that increased building heights from 35 to roughly 38 feet, project witnesses said. "We were able to adjust our layout to reduce the number of retaining walls as well," said Ashley Hales, the project's civil engineer of record for ESP Associates.
Attorney Ashley Honeycutt Terrazas of Parker Poe presented the application on behalf of the applicant and entered the recorded 2022 SUP into the record. Engineer Ashley Hales and George Young, vice president of land acquisition for Mattamy Homes, testified under oath as expert witnesses. Hales described an overlay showing the revised layout, 59 townhome units in blocks of three to six units, roughly 2.55 acres (about 111,000 square feet) of open space with about 0.44 acres (about 19,000 square feet) of improved open space, and sidewalk connectivity to the south.
Council and staff discussed technical issues including sidewalk connections, NCDOT driveway permits and a fee-in-lieu for sidewalks where right-of-way or NCDOT constraints prevent construction; staff said the fee-in-lieu is calculated at 125 percent in constrained locations. Council Member Casey asked about trash service; project representative Haley Downey said units will be served by individual rollout carts rather than a single dumpster enclosure.
George Young said the revised plan reduces grading needs and moves some units farther from adjacent properties. "We have evaluated whether this would injure [adjoining properties]. We think... it does not injure the adjacent properties," Young testified.
Council Member Archer moved to adopt ordinance 2025-07-01, including the ten revised conditions and an eleventh condition the council added to require "double silt fencing" along environmentally sensitive areas; the council then voted to adopt the ordinance and the findings of fact. The council's approval applies only to the SUP; staff noted the associated preliminary plat (202536 SD) remained under Technical Review Committee (TRC) review.
The developer said the changes reduce cut-and-fill volumes, eliminate some retaining walls and add visitor parking and improved pedestrian connections to the Clayton Community Center. Staff and the applicant said the modifications still meet UDO standards applicable to the originally vested approval, and that the SUP recorded in 2022 remains part of the project record.