Southern Pines Planning Board Gets First Look at Proposed Bell Project

A proposed concept plan for the Knollwood Tract, 550 acres that adjoins Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club

As of Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The Southern Pines Planning Board will hold a public hearing Thursday on the Bell family’s request to rezone 558 acres adjacent to Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club so a major development can be built.

The undeveloped land, known as the Knollwood Tract, is located near the intersection of U.S. 1 and N.C. 2. It is the same tract that was the center of a major confrontation five years ago when the proposed Pine Needles Village development was defeated.

Kelly Miller, president and CEO of Pine Needles and Mid Pines, said “nothing has changed” since the Bell family submitted a conceptual plan on June 25.

“The plan is the same as the one we submitted,” Miller said. “We’ll speak a little bit at the public hearing, but most of it will be similar to what I said at the (Southern Pines) Town Council workshop in May.”

The plan was required as part of the family’s application to rezone the land from Planned Development-Conditional District (PD-CD) to Planned Unit Development (PUD).

Town Manager Reagan Parsons has said a successful rezoning would give the developer and the town more flexibility.

Miller reiterated Monday that a developer has not been chosen.

“We want to first get through the rezoning process,” he said. “We’re not pursuing anything at this particular point.”

The tract is currently envisioned to include a 300- to 400-room hotel, an 18-hole golf course, up to 350,000 square feet of retail space, up to 100,000 square feet of office and commercial space, as many as 300 assisted living units, and up to 300 residential units.

In addition to the golf course, recreation areas would include walking trails, horse riding trails and golfing practice areas.

Tony Grausso, co-owner of Seagrove Candle Co. and a founder of the Broad Street Merchant Community, is currently gauging interest among the group to petition the Town Council for a community/economic impact study to determine how a large retail component might affect downtown shops.

“The goal of such a study is not to stop or impede the project but rather to fully understand how this development will impact existing community assets, including our business district,” Grausso wrote in an email sent last week. “As a community, we would then be prepared to plan for ways to help ensure our district remains vibrant amidst this new dynamic.”

Grausso closed the email by saying, in part, that “our collective response will determine if we move forward with this effort or not.”

Grausso said Monday that about one-third of the group had responded, but he declined to reveal the results.

“We’re still seeking merchant input,” he said. “This is a community issue. I’m looking at it from a merchant stakeholder perspective.”

In the email, Grausso said he will work to “draft the petition and circulate it for your endorsement next week” if the majority of merchants support the effort.

“If we do not … we will let this play out without our organized involvement as a stakeholder group,” he said.

Miller said an impact study is not required at the conceptual stage, and noted that some people have misinterpreted a memo sent to town officials by Planning Works, the Kansas-based consulting company hired to update the town’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO).

Bruce Peshoff, a partner at Planning Works, said his firm never recommended that the town require a study.

“We were only informing town officials that they had the latitude to be able to ask for one under the existing UDO regulations,” Peshoff said. “That was something we had prepared before the Bell family submitted its rezoning application.

“Everything provided in the application is general, not specific, so a study would be premature at this point.”

Peshoff said the question of whether to require a study would not be raised until the Bell family has submitted an Incremental Master Plan (IMP).

“The IMP identifies project intensity detail, and is the point where actual development intensity is proposed and established,” he said. “It is at IMP that the impact of specific development activity can be measured. Otherwise, there would only be a hypothetical impact based on some assumption of development potential.”

Contact Ted M. Natt Jr. at (910) 693-2474 or tnatt@the pilot.com.

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TooHot 9 months ago

So why will this project not suffer the fate of most of the other planned communities in this area that have floundered?

cldimon 9 months ago

Does anyone know offhand when and where this public meeting is being held Thursday?

Toda 9 months ago

With so many large projects going under due to availability of financing, start-up's end up as disturbed environments with water shed issues as well as soil run-off. One would think the Town of SP would require a bond that would re-establish any disturbed property that isn't completed. JMHO

pcvsherri 9 months ago

I believe the meeting is at the Douglass Center at 7pm tonight (Thursday).

AFCHIEF 9 months ago

toda who asked you for your opinion

AFCHIEF 9 months ago

What Peggy Bell and her family decide to do with THEIR OWN LAND should be there decision.

Let's see more jobs for construction workers, trades, and building suppliers leading to more tax revenue for Southern Pines. Don't see what the problem is other than busy bodies putting their noses in where they don't belong.

OneNativfe 9 months ago

The golf course industry is in horrible condition with courses in bankruptcy and clinging to life everywhere. Why anyone would want to build another golf course in an oversaturated market is beyond my level of comprehension.

justpassingby2 9 months ago

You can't blame those folks from up north for this one!

Thistle 9 months ago

AFCHIEF, asking questions, expecting answers and demonstrating a commitment to the long term viability of this community and economy is hardly being a busy body. Town officials should be expected to always consider the best interest of the community ahead of the interest of one individual party. I agree, an individual landowner should be allowed, in fact encouraged, to develop their property as they choose BUT ONLY IF such development doesn't negatively affect the community. Creating temporary construction jobs is not enough. The Town Council/Officials must require that traffic, water and economic impact studies be completed BEFORE approval is granted. Right now, no one knows the answers since those questions have never been asked or addressed.

Toda 9 months ago

AFCHIEF 15 hours, 26 minutes ago toda who asked you for your opinion

Who are you to question any comment I or anyone else post on these boards base on a personal opinion. Perhaps they didn't teach the Constitution where you come from in Universities or your just pan dumb. At least I'm not a coward hiding behind a blank avatar and fake name. Wussy!

Toda 9 months ago

Good points regarding employment for subcontractors. One has to wonder why CCA didn't pursue their project on Hwy 5 with residential units and shops? Their project would join the rear of CCNC as well as the Pit golf course which would have been purchased in the deal if I understood the article as written. News reports indicated several residential projects in the Wake County area have gone into bankruptcy. One such case can be linked Builder's in Bankruptcy

St. Lawrence Homes - North Carolina home builder - story story Raleigh, North Carolina-based St. Lawrence Homes has filed for Chapater 11 bankrupty protection per the following notice on their website :

St. Lawrence Homes, Inc., a North Carolina based homebuilder with additional operations in Ohio, has announced that is has filed a Chapter 11 petition in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Raleigh, NC citing the national weakness of the residential construction and real estate markets. Additionally, the company has been challenged by the tightening of borrowing requirements placed upon it sources of operating credit. St. Lawrence Homes intends to continue its operations through this financial restructuring. St. Lawrence Homes expects to move quickly through the reorganization process and to emerge from its reorganization proceedings better capitalized and financially stronger. The News & Observer has published an article on the filing noting that St. Lawrence's filing lists $158 million in assets and $116 million in liabilities. More than 400 liens have been filed against properties owned by St. Lawrence and the company has reduced employees from over 100 to 25. Regarding the size of St. Lawrence Homes' operations, the News & Observer notes:

During the 12 months ending Sept. 30, St. Lawrence sold 183 homes throughout the Triangle -- down 27 percent from the same period a year earlier, Market Opportunity Research Enterprises data show. St. Lawrence was founded in the late 1980s. If you have any further information on this listing, please comment below or email us. link text

Toda 9 months ago

AFCHIEF 14 hours, 43 minutes ago What Peggy Bell and her family decide to do with THEIR OWN LAND should be there decision.

Drill their own water wells, sewage treatment plants, garbage pickup, Law Enforcement, etc. Yep ~ it is their land and their responsibility.

A good gated community development self contained without non-resident support for shops and restaurants ... good idea there Chief.