The Currituck County Board of Commissioners on May 19 approved a preliminary plat and special‑use permit for a 56‑lot conservation subdivision in the Palace Point area, subject to multiple conditions aimed at protecting nearby drainage and preserving visual screening.

The board approved the Meadows South Spot LLC application after a presentation by county planning staff and the applicant’s engineering team and a period of public comment during previous hearings. The approval requires the developer to design on‑site stormwater controls that keep post‑construction peak flows at or below pre‑construction levels for the 100‑year rainfall event and to clean an off‑site drainage channel, Tigmeter Ditch, between the subject property and The Point Golf Course prior to recording the first phase, subject to the developer obtaining access rights from the underlying landowners and other jurisdictions.

The conditions also require the developer to provide EPA SWMM modeling of the drainage area from its origin north of Freedom Park Business Park to a point south of The Point Golf Course, and to make the findings available to the county. The approval limits phase 1 to no more than 35 lots (earliest recordable by June 1, 2026) and phase 2 to no more than 21 lots (earliest recordable December 2026), and directs the applicant to keep the existing vegetative buffer between the subdivision and South Spot Road where applicable.

Jenny Turner, a county planning staff member who read the relevant Unified Development Ordinance provisions, summarized the conservation subdivision screening requirement as: “Conservation subdivisions shall incorporate a 25 feet vegetated buffer comprised of new or existing trees and shrubs in a manner that provides an opaque screen of the development to a height of 10 feet or more.” The board discussed using the term “existing vegetative buffer” rather than “undisturbed” after commissioners cited past enforcement problems when narrow language led to disputes between neighbors.

Applicant representatives offered three measures addressing neighbors’ drainage concerns: cleaning the off‑site ditch if access is granted by other owners, producing a watershed model for the larger drainage area for pre‑ and post‑construction conditions, and designing on‑site stormwater controls to meet the county’s ten‑year storm peak flow reduction requirements while holding the 100‑year peak flow at or below pre‑construction levels. The applicant also agreed to limit phase size and to add lot‑line adjustments if needed so a designated emergency access can be provided without increasing lot count or reducing open space.

Commissioners framed the approval around findings that the use, with conditions, would not endanger public health or safety, would not injure neighboring property values, and would conform with the Imagine Currituck 2040 vision plan’s mixed‑use corridors guidance. The motion to approve carried; the board recorded the result as approved.

The developer and county staff said additional written agreements (access easements and off‑site maintenance commitments) will be necessary to implement several conditions, and those agreements must be in place before specific construction milestones.