Council approves Trimble Plant Road plan development with 75‑foot undisturbed buffer

Southern Pines, N.C. — The Town Council voted to approve a conceptual plan development (PD) rezoning for a nearly 22‑acre industrial property on Trimble Plant Road that will allow the owner to modernize an aging industrial complex and add a 40,000‑square‑foot flex building.

Planner Mason Maddox said the site currently contains two industrial buildings totaling roughly 236,000 square feet and is already surrounded by PD and industrial zoning. The applicant sought three deviations from the UDO: permission for up to 50 feet of building height (the highway corridor overlay would otherwise limit buildings to 35 feet in a portion of the site), a waiver of the usual requirement that 10% of open space be "usable," and relief from architectural materials rules for a façade update.

Maddox and applicant Paul Sates emphasized the site’s separation from the highway (existing vegetation and right‑of‑way), volunteer measures including capping parking at 192 spaces, and a traffic‑study finding that the plan would improve circulation. Council debated whether the undisturbed frontage buffer should be 50 or 75 feet, with staff noting NCDOT could later remove trees in its right‑of‑way and recommending more protection on the property side.

The council approved the PD rezoning (PDO‑5‑25) with conditions: the entire 75‑foot building setback shall remain an undisturbed buffer, except that the stormwater management area may be located within the existing topographic depression in the exact extent depicted on the conceptual development plan. The motion carried by voice vote.

What happens next: The applicant must follow site‑plan review and engineering approvals; staff will ensure the stormwater design and the undisturbed buffer are consistent with the adopted CDP.