FAYETTEVILLE -- Rezoning 253 acres in southwest Fayetteville, as recommended Monday by city planning commissioners, would give greater flexibility to anyone interested in developing land where the failed SouthPass project was once planned.
The City Council approved zoning and development plans for SouthPass, near the Cato Springs Road interchange on Interstate 49, in 2008. The project, proposed by John Nock, Richard Alexander, Hank Broyles and Steve Aust, was supposed to feature as many as 750 houses, 2,900 apartments, 630 condominiums and 344,000 square feet of commercial space on nearly 900 acres.
At A Glance
Fayetteville Planning Commission
Also on Monday, the commission:
• Recommended rezoning 6.9 acres northeast of Wedington Drive and Rupple Road, where a strip mall and self-storage business are located. The new zoning, initiated by the Fayetteville Planning Division, is part of the Wedington Corridor Plan City Council members approved in March 2013. It would allow a mix of residential units and neighborhood shops to be built if the property is redeveloped.
Source: Staff Report
Development never occurred, and Danville-based Chambers Bank acquired the property in lieu of foreclosure in 2010.
The bank eventually made good on the developers' pledge to deed about 200 acres to the city for a regional park. And in March, Chambers sold -- and donated -- another 376 acres to the city for use as a Mount Kessler reserve, next to the park.
Development rights on the remaining bank-owned land are limited. City officials approved SouthPass as a planned zoning district, meaning certain details, such as the number and type of housing units, were clearly spelled out.
Unless it's rezoned, the land can't be developed for anything except what SouthPass developers envisioned.
Jesse Fulcher, senior city planner, said the zoning districts Chambers Bank is proposing would still allow a mix of residential and commercial development.
The bank requested the city's most dense and intense form-based zoning district, Urban Thoroughfare, on 79 acres along Cato Springs Road. That designation would allow restaurants, large retail stores, a hotel or a gasoline station to be built.
Community Services zoning, which is more geared toward neighborhood shops, is proposed on 120 acres in the interior of the site.
Neighborhood Conservation zoning, a purely residential zoning district, is proposed on 54 acres next to the Mount Kessler Reserve and regional park, where construction is slated to begin by the end of year.
Fulcher said the new zoning, though not identical to SouthPass, would call for many of the same uses the City Council approved in 2008. "There's still the opportunity, I think, to see that type of development occur," Fulcher said.
Hunter Haynes, a consultant on the SouthPass property for Chambers Bank, said following Monday's meeting the property is still up for sale.
"It's continuing to be marketed," Haynes said. "There continues to be interest in the property from various groups."
All six planning commissioners at Monday's meeting recommended City Council approval of the rezoning. Aldermen are set to consider the issue next month.
Commissioners also recommended rezoning 620 acres south and west of the bank-owned land where the regional park and Mount Kessler Reserve are planned. City officials requested rezoning the land to an institutional setting, the same designation as most other Fayetteville parks.
NW News on 06/10/2014