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Greenville council approves annexation of Manon Farm Lot 1 after safety and traffic debate
Summary
The City of Greenville approved an annexation petition for Manon Farm Lot 1, a roughly 4‑acre parcel near East Tenth Street, after council debated road capacity and safety concerns tied to ongoing development along Tenth Street East.
Greenville City Council voted to approve the annexation of Manon Farm Lot 1, a parcel tied to a larger development on East Tenth Street, after extended staff presentation and debate among council members.
Chief planner Shante Googie told the council the petition concerns a property originally rezoned in 2008 and sold to a developer in 2022. The applicant submitted a preliminary plat and site plan showing mixed commercial and multifamily development; staff said the lot itself is roughly 3.8 acres and the annexation petition covers under 4 acres once part of the right of way is included. Googie explained that property owners petitioning from the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) commonly seek annexation to access city sewer, which allows more intensive development than septic systems.
Why it matters: Council members focused much of their discussion on Tenth Street East, which staff figures is operating at about 92% of capacity and receives repeated crash reports. Council member Blackburn urged caution, saying the corridor is approaching and could exceed capacity within a short time and that safety improvements should be in place before new traffic is added. Several members—including Mayor Pro Tem Daniels and Council members Willis and Robinson—noted developer commitments to extend a right‑turn lane and meet NCDOT comments about the intersection geometry; Robinson and others said buffers, walkability elements and offsite improvements reduce but do not eliminate safety concerns.
The debate also touched on longer policy issues. Googie reminded council that state law created ETJs decades ago to allow cities to plan growth and that the city’s subdivision ordinance requires annexation before a final plat can be recorded. She also noted a provision of the GUC charter (section 6) that would allow Greenville Utilities Commission to provide sanitary sewer to a property in the city’s ETJ even if annexation were denied.
Council action: Councilmember Robinson moved to approve the annexation; Councilmember Scully seconded. A motion to deny that had been on the floor earlier was formally withdrawn by Councilmember Blackburn. The annexation motion was approved by the council (vote tally not specified in the record). The file for the item listed it as agenda item 9.
Council direction and next steps: Multiple members urged continued advocacy with NCDOT for funded safety projects on Tenth Street East. Staff and city leadership said they will continue to coordinate with the developer, GUC and NCDOT on the planned right‑turn lane extension and other traffic mitigation measures. Developers said they would attempt to preserve trees where feasible and provide larger buffers than required between the development and adjacent uses.
Context: Googie said the property was part of a broader ETJ expansion from the 1970s, and that Lot 2 of the larger property already has ongoing construction. She showed the approved preliminary plat, driveway patterns and traffic circulation that the city used to evaluate likely impacts.
