Planning board recommends commercial rezoning on North Broad Street and Dickens Road

The Fuquay Varina Planning Board recommended approval of a rezoning requested by McKinnon Property Group that would convert roughly 10.18 acres at 1919–24 North Broad Street and nearby Dickens Road from mixed-use designations to a General Commercial conditional zoning district and amend the land-use plan to Suburban Commercial.

Staff told the board the proposal generally aligns with the town—s adopted 2040 Community Vision Land Use Plan and supports compact commercial development along the Broad Street corridor. Beth Blackman of Timmons Group, representing the applicant, said the change mainly brings a small strip of the site into conformance with the surrounding Suburban Commercial designation and that the group narrowed permitted uses and added prohibitions to ensure a higher-quality commercial outcome along the Highway Corridor Overlay.

Blackman and applicant Kyle Greer said the project is a reworked version of a previously proposed mixed-use plan; the McKinnon group intends to pursue suburban commercial development that serves nearby residents and the traveling public. Blackman said a neighborhood meeting produced no attendees and that staff and the applicant coordinated permitted and prohibited uses with the overlay district in mind.

Board members discussed the land-use map and noted only a small portion of the area needed a land-use amendment to bring the entire site into the Suburban Commercial category. The board moved and seconded a recommendation of approval and approved the motion by voice vote. The item will proceed to the Town Board of Commissioners for final action and any subsequent site-plan review if rezoning is approved.