The Fuquay Varina Planning Board on Nov. 17 heard hours of public comment over REZ 2025-13, a petition to rezone 1.85 acres at 7601 Purfoy Road for a New Horizon Academy childcare center, and agreed to the applicant’s request to table the case to the Dec. 15, 2025 meeting so additional traffic and site information can be provided.

Planning staff told the board the rezoning request would change the site from residential-agricultural to corridor commercial-conditional and recommended approval, noting the proposal is consistent with the town’s 2040 Land Use Plan and supporting policies on infill and commercial development. Ben Gilbertson, business development manager for New Horizon Academy, described the operator as family-owned with roughly 50 years of experience and said the company cares for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years.

Neighbors at the hearing focused overwhelmingly on traffic and safety at the Purfoy Road / Old Sexton Place intersection. Mike Matthews, speaking in proxy for a neighbor, said the location is “not a very good plan” for small children because of heavy traffic and difficult driveway access. Joanne Myers, a resident on Old Sexton Place, said she had witnessed two crashes at the corner and called the area “very dangerous,” urging traffic-signal or DOT intervention before adding daycare traffic.

Several residents urged larger buffers, better stormwater controls and careful driveway placement. George Beasley, who said he supports childcare over other commercial uses, asked the board to require a larger landscape buffer (he suggested 30 feet) between the commercial parcel and adjacent homes and called attention to bright lighting and stormwater runoff from parking and impervious surfaces. Anne Miller, an early-childhood educator and nearby homeowner, said recent rains had already caused water under her house and asked the board to ensure development does not worsen local drainage.

Planning and engineering staff explained review steps and technical requirements. Staff noted any disturbance over one acre triggers state-required stormwater and erosion control review and that the town’s rules require a 20-foot building setback and a 15-foot landscape (type B) buffer on the east side facing the subdivision; the applicant has offered a fence and fully evergreen plantings placed on the inside edge of that buffer as a condition. Staff also said a Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) is required when a project creates more than 100 peak trips or 1,000 daily trips and that the TIA for this project was underway but not complete.

Dan Miller, the project’s civil engineer, and Gilbertson said the team has begun TIA scoping and count collection. Gilbertson said typical peak trips for New Horizon sites are far lower than the TIA threshold, adding that the peak arrival/dismissal period for a facility this size would generate about 60 vehicles during morning and afternoon peaks. He also said site plans would include enclosed playgrounds and that most drop-offs would use a proposed right‑in/right‑out on Purfoy Road, pending DOT approval.

Board members said they generally view childcare as an appropriate use for property the town’s land-use map has shown as commercial since 2005, but multiple members said they could not make a fully informed recommendation without clearer information from the TIA and any NCDOT driveway guidance. With the petitioner’s agreement, the applicant requested the item be tabled to the planning board meeting on Dec. 15, 2025 to provide the TIA results and a site exhibit showing proposed driveway locations; the chair confirmed and recorded the continuance.

The case will return to the board next month with the additional technical materials; if the applicant files a voluntary tabling the board will not be required to act until it is again on the agenda. No rezoning was approved or denied at the Nov. 17 meeting.