S.P. Council to Review Major Rezoning

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

As of Sunday, October 7, 2012

The Southern Pines Town Council will cap a full agenda at its monthly meeting Tuesday, with a public hearing on the Bell family's request to rezone 558 acres adjacent to Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club.

"We have quite a bit scheduled that night," Mayor David McNeill said. "We want to keep the meeting moving so we can take care of the business before us."

McNeill said the council declined to set a time limit for speakers.

"We'd like people to be concise in their comments and strive for summarizing their remarks within a five-minute time period in order to hear as many people as possible and be fair to all concerned," he said.

Council member Chris Smithson said he doesn't expect time to be an issue.

"Most people say what they're going to say within three to five minutes," Smithson said. "There are usually only a handful of people that take a significant amount of time."

The undeveloped land, known as the Knollwood Tract, is located near the intersection of U.S. 1 and N.C. 22. 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.

Smithson, who was on the council then, said there doesn't seem to be the same level of public interest this time.

"Last time, I got hundreds of emails," he said. "This time, I haven't received any."

The Bell family submitted a conceptual plan on June 25. 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).

Kelly Miller, president and CEO of Pine Needles and Mid Pines, said the family is looking forward to working with the council.

"We'll be at the meeting, present our project, listen to the public hearing and answer any questions," Miller said. "Obviously, we think it's a good plan."

The Southern Pines Planning Board recommended approval of the rezoning last month. But the board would like the council to grant two provisions not currently required: that the board be allowed to review the Incremental Master Plan (IMP), and that an economic impact assessment be conducted.

Tony Grausso, a founder of the Broad Street Merchant Community, sent an email on Sept. 28 encouraging members of the group to attend Tuesday's meeting.

"To be sure, the Town Council has the ability and the legal ground to grant the rezoning of this property to PUD status with the condition that the developer is to fund an economic impact study, once a specific and detailed Incremental Master Plan is available," Grausso said in the email. "This meeting is the opportunity to get this done. Once the rezoning is done, that leverage is lost."

Grausso was a driving force behind a petition signed by more than 50 downtown Southern Pines merchants asking the council for the economic assessment. The group believes such a study would determine how a large retail component on the Knollwood Tract might affect their shops.

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 homes.

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

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

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RKatrin 7 months, 2 weeks ago

I think that a big part of the reason there's less interest this time regarding Pine Needles expansion is that the business interests of this town have been successful in loading like minded candidates over the years on the town council, so the council itself has been geared up to improve business expansions of the kind that Pine Needles is proposing. It's only the politics that have changed, grow more, expand more, pollute more, use more water, create more infrastructre problems and gradually turn this into the kind of place that sensible people won't want to live in. This was all covered the last time this came up and maybe the lack opposition is just a realistic appraisal that if you can't even make a good fight because the deck is loaded than forgedaboudit.

handyssc2 7 months, 2 weeks ago

Too true.

njc17 7 months, 2 weeks ago

It's one thing to grow, and we all want to see controlled growth because of increasing business and capitol, but it quite another if that growth begins to stunt downtown stability. Too many towns allow perimeter expansion to the detriment of downtown businesses. I am not against this expansion but I do believe serious thought need be taken regarding the down the road impact of downtown Southern Pines which has been a true model of maintaining the nature of the village atmosphere. . Please don't ruin it.

TooHot 7 months, 2 weeks ago

Nice to see the city allowing a man to legally do what he wants with his land, in spite of the Graussos of the world.

tarheelborn 7 months, 2 weeks ago

Here is my take. I would love to see the Bell Family move forward on developing this piece of land. However, the ""Retail Space"" MUST be scaled back considerably as not to suck up all the business from Downtown! This is exactly what happens when By-Passes, Strip Malls and Shopping Centers follow these growth areas... Downtown will become a (((""GHOST-TOWN""))), if the plan is allowed to continue as presented!!! PLEASE ELECTED OFFICIALS, "Think" and vote carefully on this... This is why we have elected you into office. To do the right thing!!!

theonewithsense 7 months, 2 weeks ago

300-400 room hotel yet another golf course 350,000 sf retail 100,000 sf office 600 residential units

Good luck with that. No way can this community absorb that kind of growth in the next 5-10 years. New development costs are much higher than existing, and there is plenty of existing retail and office and residential available. Somebody must have some deep pockets because there isn't a bank in the world that would finance this project.