Kernersville approves Linville Springs subdivision rezoning and development plan with buffer, NCDOT turn-lane conditions

The Town of Kernersville Board of Aldermen voted unanimously Aug. 5 to approve a land-use plan amendment, development plan amendment and a conditional rezoning for a 17.9-acre site off Linville Springs Road, clearing the way for a 47-lot single-family subdivision submitted by Combs Inc.

Catherine Garner, the town’s community development director, told the board the application includes two linked items: a change to the Kernersville development plan from “commercial neighborhood scale” to “medium-density residential” and a conditional rezoning, zoning docket K759A2, from General Office Special (GOS) to RS-7-C (residential single-family, 7,000-square-foot minimum lots) with an attached site plan.

Garner said the proposed density — 47 units on roughly 17.9 acres — equals 2.63 units per acre, well within the staff’s recommended medium-density residential category (0–7 units per acre). She told the board that Planning Board and staff recommended approval and that the proposed site plan reduces the number of dwellings from earlier proposals: “The previous rezoning request was for 6 units per acre … That site plan proposed 97 townhouse units … This site plan shows only 47 units.”

Developer representatives described the project and the applicants’ changes. Amanda Hodiern, the applicant’s agent, emphasized the proposal is a “downzoning” from the property’s current commercial/office designation and that the site-plan…