Commissioners approve rezoning of 3,319 acres for proposed Pitt County ‘mega site’; land-use change enables state grant pursuit

Pitt County commissioners on July 21 approved a request to amend the county's future land use map and to rezone about 3,319.6 acres owned by Weyerhaeuser Company, Inc., from rural agricultural to general industrial, enabling the county and economic partners to pursue state mega-site grant funding. The board also approved use of a conservation area overlay intended to add permanent open-space buffers between industrial development and adjoining residences.

Planning staff told the board the rezoning and land-use amendment are prerequisites for applying to the N.C. Economic Development Partnership mega-site readiness program, and said the approvals would allow access to roughly $10 million for site due diligence and about $97 million for site development if later awards are granted.

The change matters because the parcel is large, contiguous and near existing infrastructure. Jonas Hill, planning staff, told the board the property's size and access to a four-lane road, utilities and the Pitt-Greenville Airport make it a candidate for large-scale industrial development. Hill said portions of the site are in a water-supply-watershed-protection overlay and that state watershed rules and federal wetland protections constrain what can be placed on portions of the land.

Scott Anderson, an owner of ARC Consulting Group and consultant for the applicant,…