The county commissioners on Monday held off setting a public hearing date on a request to rezone land near West End for the proposed Pine Forest development.

Bob Hansen, of Pinehurst, has asked the county to rezone about 1,652 acres as a Planned Unit Development (PUD) for a luxury golf resort. Its present zoning designation is RA-20 residential/agricultural, RA-40 residential/agricultural, RA-5 residential/agricultural and B-2 highway commercial.

Pine Forest, as proposed by MHK Ventures Inc., fronts on N.C. 211 and stretches toward N.C. 73, abutting the Dormie Club, which the company is already developing.

The Pine Forest development will have two communities. One will be gated, and the other will be an open community with a retail center.

The plan calls for two championship golf courses and a nine-hole course along with a resort hotel, clubhouse and related amenities. It includes up to 710 residential units and up to 300 hotel rooms, but the total is not to exceed 890 units.

The commissioners were expected to schedule a required public hearing on the request for their Feb. 15 meeting. It will be a quasi-judicial hearing in which the board sits in a judicial capacity to hear sworn testimony. But the commissioners raised concerns about language in a proposed agreement between the county and Hansen’s company, MHK Ventures, Inc.

Now County Attorney Misty Leland and County Manager Cary McSwain will negotiate with Hansen over the language in that contract before the commissioners call a public hearing on the rezoning.

There has been opposition to the development, most of it focusing on issues related to water and other environmental concerns such as wildlife habitats.

For more on this story, see the print edition of The Pilot.