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Planning board recommends R‑10 rezoning for two Winterville tracts totaling about 100 acres
Summary
Town planning staff recommended and the Weather Bureau Planning and Zoning Board voted to recommend R‑10 conditional rezonings for the Mellon (46.98 acres) and Neal (45.81 acres) properties; each parcel must preserve 10% open space and the items go to town council for a public hearing in March.
The Weather Bureau Planning and Zoning Board on Feb. 17 recommended that the Mellon and Neal parcels—about 46.98 acres and 45.81 acres, respectively—be rezoned from agricultural residential (AR) to an R‑10 conditional district, with a condition that 10% of each site remain open space.
Planning staff (Steven) told the board the two applications were submitted by the same applicant and would be reviewed together because the developer intends to combine the tracts into a single project. Staff said the parcels are currently vacant agricultural/forest land and that the comprehensive land‑use plan designates the area as suburban residential, making an R‑10 conditional district compatible with the plan if the open‑space condition is met.
John Thomas of Thomas Engineering, the applicant’s representative, said the two tracts are more viable when developed together: “We are going to develop these 2 tracks together,” he said, noting a gas line divides one tract and the Mellon tract contains a stream and an irregular shape that make separate development difficult. Thomas said the R‑10 layout would mirror other nearby developments and confirmed the team plans to meet the 10% open‑space requirement.
Board members asked whether the 10% requirement could be satisfied with fragmented parcels; Steven replied that subdivision‑ordinance standards require that designated open space meet specific layout criteria and cannot be met by scattering small leftovers, and that the 10% condition is applied to each parcel individually.
There was no public opposition during the Mellon public comment period; the board subsequently moved through the required consistency and reasonableness findings and voted to recommend approval of each rezoning to town council. Staff noted the item will be scheduled for a town‑council public hearing in March.
What happens next: The town council will hold a public hearing and decide whether to adopt the rezoning ordinances. If approved, future construction drawings and subdivision review will address lot layout, open‑space implementation and any mitigation required by the subdivision ordinance.
