Fuquay-Varina approves six voluntary annexations; residents raise flooding, wetlands concerns for one parcel

The Fuquay-Varina Town Board on Aug. 4 voted to adopt annexation ordinances to extend the town’s corporate limits to include six properties across several parcels and to approve a conditional rezoning for a booster pump station parcel tied to the Sanford conveyance waterline project.

Planning Director Pam Davidson told the board the petitions met the requirements of the North Carolina General Statutes and summarized service availability: public water and sewer were available for most parcels, fire-flow tests nearby showed “adequate flow,” and declarations excluding town sanitation were attached for parcels where that service is currently unavailable. Several petitions were part of agreements with the North Carolina Department of Transportation related to NC 540, Davidson said.

The board approved annexations for Raleigh Smiles LLC (1.3 acres, ANX-2025-05), a group of Randall/Upchurch properties (30.774 acres, ANX-2025-06), MBF Road LLC/Donald Chesson (0.831 acre, ANX-2025-09), William Garcia (0.792 acre, ANX-2025-10), Stevens Road Partners LLC/Lehi Futrell (10.039 acres, ANX-2025-11) and a 5.785-acre parcel for the town and the town of Holly Springs related to the Sanford conveyance project (ANX-2025-12). In each case the meeting record shows the board adopted the ordinance and the motions “carried.”

The Stevens Road Partners annexation drew the most public comment. Several Willow Spring residents said their properties back up to wetlands and that portions of yards sit on flood-hazard soils. “I bought my house just over a year and a half ago… I didn’t know I had a swamp,” one resident said. Robert Stevenson, whose lot borders the wetland, said survey flags showed the wetland intruded into his parcel and asked what development would mean for downstream properties.

Planning and engineering staff responded that the August hearing was limited to determining whether the town could provide utility service and that zoning, density and detailed design would be addressed at separate hearings. Engineering staff explained modern subdivisions meeting certain densities are required to include stormwater control and management devices that “capture water… then slowly discharge the water back downstream,” and that state law and town review require those measures. Engineering director Matt Poland said the subdivision tied to the Stevens Road parcel is a conventional single-family subdivision with 10,000-square-foot minimum lots, that the board had previously approved the preliminary subdivision plan, and that construction drawings are in their second round of review.

Pam Davidson and staff also told residents that the site plan is publicly available on the town GIS and that staff would follow up with answers to specific neighbor questions. The record shows the town clerk certified petitions as sufficient at prior meetings and that, where applicable, emergency agreements had been granted to provide water before annexation finalization when private wells were rendered unusable by roadway work.

Separately, the board approved a zoning map amendment (REZ-2025-06) for a 5.785-acre parcel at 6305 Duncan Cook Road to a residential-agricultural conditional district limited to public-utility uses; the planning board had unanimously recommended approval. Michael Wagner, the town’s public utilities director, said the parcel is needed for a booster pump station to operate the Sanford conveyance waterline and the rezoning passed.

All the annexation and rezoning motions were put to voice votes during the meeting; the minutes indicate the motions carried for each item. Davidson said the present assessed values for the annexed properties ranged from about $118,720 for the smallest parcel to $2,726,345 for the larger multi-parcel petition.

With the annexations approved, future steps for each parcel will include the separate zoning hearings and the technical plan reviews that the town’s engineering and planning staff described at the meeting. Residents who raised flooding and wetlands concerns were told staff would follow up with more detailed responses after the public hearings concluded.