Council OK’s Buffalo Road homes

SMITHFIELD — A deeply divided Town Council has said yes to new homes on Buffalo Road near Smithfield Middle School.

When the request first surfaced in January, the council fretted mostly about density — 222 single-family homes on lots of just 4,200 square feet. Council members worried too about drainage, fearing stormwater from the subdivision would swamp homes in neighboring Bradford Park.

So on July 9, developer Sagan Lampe returned with concessions, including just 170 homes on lots of at least 5,200 square. “I believe that this proposal adequately addresses both your hopes for elbow room and my hopes for affordability,” she told the council.

Lampe also brought with her two engineers, including one whose specialty is stormwater control. They told the council that above-ground measures and below-grade pipes would carry rainwater away from Bradford Park and into what would now be two holding ponds instead of one.

“Our drainage systems will be put in place so that none of the water from our proposed development … will be headed towards Bradford Park,” said Donnie Adams of Adams & Hodge Engineering.

His firm can’t improve drainage within Bradford Park, which is flat, Adams said in response to a question from Councilman Travis Scott. “I do not believe it’s within our scope or within our possibility to come into Bradford Park and address existing problems,” he said. “But I can state as a professional engineer that we will not be making that worse.”

“We will grade it in a way that our water is going to be moving downhill, further away from Bradford Park,” Adams said. “We will not be discharging that water back uphill to Bradford Park.”

Eva King, an engineer with Adams & Hodge and the stormwater expert, said she had visited the site on July 1. “It was a lucky day because we had a large rainfall the Sunday before, so things were wet,” she said. “I was able to see what he’s concerned about.”

King was referring to Gene Bruton, a Bradford Park resident and the most vocal opponent of the project. On the day she visited the site, King saw standing water in Bradford Park.

“There is ponding; there’s nothing I can do about existing conditions,” she said. “But what I can make sure of is … that that stormwater is being routed away from adjacent neighborhoods.”

Bruton was not swayed. “It’s still going to come and flood, and it’s going to be a mess for all homes like you’ve never seen,” he said.

Scott, the councilman, wasn’t convinced either. “I got to be honest,” he said. “I feel less safe now than I did at the initial presentation.”

But Councilman Sloan Stevens said the council had exacted considerable concessions from the developer, who can’t help that Smithfield is flat.

“Living in eastern North Carolina, it’s flat space,” he said. “We flood. There’s flooding in every neighborhood.”

State law requires developers to protect neighboring homes by maintaining existing drainage patterns, Stevens noted. “They’re following the law,” he said of the developer.

Stevens said the developer would build quality homes in a subdivision packed with amenities. “To me, this is as good as it gets,” he said, his frustration growing. “If we’re not going to be approving, then we just need to shut everything down and everybody can jump Smithfield over and go to the next town.”

When it came time, Councilmen David Barbour, John Dunn and Roger Wood joined Stevens in voting to approve the project. Only Councilmen Scott, Marlon Lee and Steve Rabil voted no.

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