A request to build up to 40 homes in green space between the Tar River and East 10th Street raised concerns about flooding, traffic and a gas line from neighbors at Courthouse Square subdivision before the city planning board signed off on the plan.
The Greenville Planning and Zoning Commission on Tuesday unanimously voted to recommend rezoning 13.33 acres north of Oxford Road and Brook Valley subdivion from residential-agricultural to residential single-family.
The property is owned by Greenville Church of Christ Inc. Engineer Scott Anderson with Ark Consulting Group represented the church and advocated for the development during Tuesday’s meeting.
The entire parcel is 35.70 acres, Anderson said, but only 13.33 acres is being rezoned because environmental constraints prevent development. The area is in the floodplain, he said. About 30-40 single family homes can be built on 6,000-square-foot lots, Anderson said.
Courthouse Square sits just west of property. Resident Mary Worthington, who’s home is adjacent to it, said a high-pressure gas line runs between the two property lines and then crosses the church property.
“Nothing has been built there for 27-some years because of that,” Worthington said.
William Lawrence, also lives next to the property. “When it rains, the water stands out there and runs right in my yard,” he said.
Willie Brooks, who has lived in Courthouse Square since 1995, said Greenville Fire-Rescue built a fire department behind his home. He believes another neighborhood would bring down his property values.
Kimberly Harrison worried about a new housing development creating more traffic and more accidents along that stretch of roadway.
Anderson said there have only been two wrecks, one involving a car, another involving a bicycle in that area of East 10th Street in the last five years.
Harrison and other speakers said a sharp increase in wrecks and deaths has occurred a few hundred feet away to the west at Copper Beech Apartments and the commercial area west of it.
Harrison also worries about increased flooding problems, saying she has thought about using sandbags around her home because of rising waters.
Former Greenville Planning and Zoning Commission member Kevin Faison, who served as chairman and vice chairman of the board, said he wasn’t necessarily opposed to the request, “But my neighbors have concerns. I would like the gas line issue to be addressed.”
Anderson said the gas line has a 50-foot easement that will prevent development in that area. Anderson said he didn’t have the details on whether the easement was 50-feet on both sides of the line, or 25-feet on both sides.
“The easement has very specific restrictions in place as for what we can or can’t build in the easement,” Anderson said. “So no homes or improvements would be allowed in that easement. We can put some road crossings across some isolated, specific spots but other than that, nothing else will be allowed to be built in that gas easement.”
Faison said he was told it was 50-feet on both sides of the line. Anderson said it would be addressed when site plans were developed.
As for flooding issues, Anderson said development standards prevent a subdivision from increasing flood problems. Depending on the stormwater system design, it could ease the problem, he said.
Anderson said as for concerns about entering 10th Street from the development, there is a chance the development would be accessed through Courthouse Square’s Liberty Drive.
“Any development is going to generate traffic,” Anderson said. “Greenville is a great, growing town. We need more housing. There’s two ways to help the traffic. One is to not build anything; the other is to keep your development close to where people are going.
“We could go further out 10th Street, out in the country, where there is lots of land, it’s wide open and there isn’t a lot of traffic and build a thousand houses.”
But that creates sprawl and shifts traffic congestion to another area, Anderson said.
“Greenville holistically is a city where we have a shortage of properly appropriate middle income housing,” board member Allen Thomas said. “The focus should be on traffic work in that entire area. This is a smaller project, but the bigger issue is from Greenville Boulevard all the way down. As a city we have to continue looking at that.”
The board cast the unanimous vote with five members present to recommend the Greenville City Council approve the request. The council will likely vote on the request in August or September.
The board also unanimously approved rezoning .488 acres located along the eastern right-of-way of Dickinson Avenue Extension, about 420 feet southwest of West Arlington Boulevard, from residential-agricultural to general commercial. No one opposed the request.
The board also voted to reappoint Alan Brock chairman of the commission and Hunter Peyton vice-chairman.
The planning board has nine voting members and three alternate members who step in when a voting member is absent.
Three of the voting members were absent Tuesday along with the two city alternates.
One voting seat and one alternate seat, both representing residents living in unincorporated areas that are managed under the city’s zoning rules, are vacant because the Pitt County Board of Commissioners haven’t recommended a replacement.
John Collins, whose term expired in the summer of 2023, continues to serve but his seat is also awaiting an appointment by commissioners.
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