Leland planning board backs conditional rezoning for Mallory Creek Mixed Use, sends recommendation to council

The Leland Planning Board voted to recommend that the Town Council approve a conditional zoning map amendment for the Mallory Creek Mixed Use project after hearing residents, neighborhood representatives and the applicant team on Jan. (project presented at the board meeting).

Ben Watts, planning staff, told the board the application would rezone roughly 31.5 acres near N.C. 133 and Mallory Creek Drive from a mix of C1 (commercial) and PUD (planned unit development) to a combination of R6-CZ (conditional) and C1-CZ, and that the site plan submitted with the application would become a condition of approval. The plan shows about 127 townhomes (roughly 5.8 dwelling units per acre in the proposed R6 areas), approximately 30,000 square feet of commercial space split between restaurant (5,000 sq ft), retail (15,000 sq ft) and office (10,000 sq ft), four stormwater ponds (one existing, three new) and an 8-foot multi‑use path that would extend the Gullah Geechee Heritage Trail.

The project also includes landscape buffers and a note on the site plan that "no burning will take place as part of the demo or land disturbance activities," which staff said would be a condition of conditional zoning approval if adopted. A tree survey submitted with the application identified one…