Developer seeks to rezone 430 acres off Lower Moncure Road for light industrial park; neighbors and land trust warn of water, traffic impacts

Trustwell Property Group asked the Lee County Board of Commissioners on Monday to rezone 430 acres off Lower Moncure Road from residential‑agricultural to light industrial to develop a business park the company calls Vector Innovation Park.

The request, presented during a joint public hearing with the county planning board, would change the property’s zoning so the owner could market the site to rail‑served and power‑intensive tenants. The developer said the location’s rail connection and nearby electrical infrastructure make it attractive for advanced manufacturing and life‑science companies, and that buffers and stormwater controls would protect nearby properties and streams.

Planning staff told commissioners the site lies in a watershed conservation overlay, contains 100‑year floodplain along Hughes Creek and Roberts Creek, and is bisected by a Norfolk Southern rail line. The land is shown in the county’s Plan San Lee long‑range plan mostly as “countryside,” a designation staff said is intended to preserve agricultural uses and low‑density residential development. The planning report emphasized that rezoning to light industrial is a legislative decision for the board to make based on public input and the record.

Developer presentation

Jonathan Keener, identified in the hearing as managing partner with Trustwell Property Group and Helix Ventures, told the board the developer has conducted due diligence and aims to market the site to companies that require rail and reliable electric service. Keener said the project would exclude heavy or hazardous uses — “no coal ash, petroleum, asphalt plants, metal smelting, animal processing, junkyards, waste facilities or landfills,” he said — and that the developer would commit portions of the site to remain undeveloped as a permanent buffer. He described proposed measures including 50‑foot Type B landscape buffers, stream buffers, avoidance of floodplain development and stormwater best management practices written into property‑owner covenants.

Keener also said 25% of the area aligns with the county’s plan for industrial uses and argued rezoning would expand the county’s commercial tax base and attract jobs. He estimated, based on similar projects, the site could ultimately support hundreds to thousands of jobs if fully developed, but said specific tenant commitments do not exist at this stage.

Opposition and environmental concerns

Speakers from the Triangle Land Conservancy and many nearby residents urged commissioners to reject the rezoning or to require much stricter conditions. A letter from the Triangle Land Conservancy, entered into the record and read aloud by staff, said the tract contains prime agricultural soils, extensive stream frontage and floodplain and sits upstream of Sanford’s water intake on the Cape Fear River; the land trust warned that increased impervious surface could harm water quality and increase runoff into Lick Creek and the Cape Fear River.

More than a dozen residents who live along Lower Moncure Road and adjacent properties spoke in opposition, citing concerns about groundwater and well contamination, light and noise pollution, increased heavy‑truck traffic on a narrow, curving two‑lane road subject to flooding, and loss of rural character. Several speakers described multi‑generation family farms and urged the board to honor the “countryside” designation in the county plan.

Utilities and other stakeholders

Representatives of Central Electric Membership Corporation told commissioners the cooperative is building a substation on adjacent property and said Trustwell coordinated with them when the cooperative needed a site. Staff also noted that any public water or sewer extensions would need approval by Tri‑Rivers Water and North Carolina Department of Transportation approval would be required for new driveway or roadway connections to Lower Moncure Road.

Next steps

The hearing record remains open for the board’s consideration; the transcript and letters submitted tonight are to be considered as part of the rezoning decision. Planning staff reminded the board that this is a standard general‑use rezoning (not a conditional rezoning), meaning site plans, building plans and subdivision plans are not required with the map amendment application.

No final rezoning decision was recorded at Monday’s meeting. The board advised it will weigh the staff report, mailed letters and public comments when it makes a later legislative determination on the map amendment.