Kernersville aldermen approve annexation, development plan and rezoning for 15-acre Brookford site over staff objection

KERNERSVILLE — The Town of Kernersville Board of Aldermen on [date not specified in the transcript] approved a voluntary annexation (contingent on related approvals), a change to the Kernersville development plan (KDP 72) and a rezoning (zoning docket K823) that will allow a mixed-use project on a roughly 15-acre parcel at Kernersville Medical Parkway and Brookford Road. The three votes on the annexation, the development plan and the rezoning passed by 3-1.

The approvals will permit two commercial buildings in front of a four‑story residential building on the site and a range of commercial and residential uses under a General Business Conditional (GBC) zoning requested by the applicant. Town planning staff recommended denying the land‑use change and rezoning, saying the proposal conflicts with the town’s I‑40/NC‑66 Interchange Northeast Quadrant small area plan and the Unified Development Ordinance; the Planning Board recommended conditional approval subject to the applicant’s site plan and conditions.

Why it matters: The parcel is currently shown on the town’s land‑use maps as Business Center — a designation the small area plan intended for office, corporate park or industrial uses because of interstate visibility and access. Approving the change to Commercial and the conditional GBC zoning allows multifamily housing and limited commercial uses in a corridor town staff and the small‑area plan had intended for nonresidential employment uses. The town previously used roughly $5,521,405 from its sewer tax differential fund to build Kernersville Medical Parkway and a sewer extension that enabled development of this parcel; staff told the board the proposed product is less likely to generate the same type of ad valorem revenue the town expected under the original plan.

Staff presentation and recommendation

Catherine Garner, Kernersville community development director, told the board the KDP amendment would change the site designation from Business Center to Commercial and that the site lies inside the I‑40/NC‑66 Interchange Northeast Quadrant small area plan. Garner said the small area plan “was intended for corporate park and industrial…