Commission rejects future‑land‑use amendment and rezoning proposal near Highway 501 after residents object

Developers working with Bolton & Mink presented a request Nov. 7 to amend the county's future‑land‑use map and rezone roughly 53.7 acres near Highway 501 to allow a planned development district with up to 135 single‑family and semi‑detached units and commercial outparcels. Mike Wootton, representing the applicant, said the area will become an urban node after planned infrastructure (including a funded I‑73 connection and a county civic hub) and argued the project offers buffers and a design that fits future growth.

Residents who live on Raven Road and adjacent parcels pushed back. Mary Demarest said the proposal conflicts with the Imagine 2040 comprehensive plan's rural preservation policies and warned that the development would overload local roads and harm agricultural uses. “This is not in alignment with the goals and strategies of the Imagine 2040 comprehensive plan,” she told commissioners. Another nearby landowner, Marilyn Bridgeman, spoke in favor of the project.

Commissioner comments reflected the divide: the district commissioner said he would likely support a new MRDP zoning presented under the council's direction, but not the project as proposed under the current comp plan. The commission voted on the future‑land‑use map amendment and the amendment failed; a separate vote on the rezoning also failed. Staff noted that while the FLU amendment did not pass, the standard process is for rezoning requests to still proceed to county council; however, commissioners and the applicant discussed that council could not legally implement a rezoning inconsistent with the existing future‑land‑use map without an amendment. The outcome leaves the developer with an unresolved path: the FLU amendment rejected by the commission, and the rezoning not approved by the commission.