ALBEMARLE — On Monday night, the Albemarle City Council held a public hearing and approved the annexation of a 77-acre parcel of land located near the intersections of Highway 52, Highway 138, Freeman View Drive, and Marlbrook Drive.
Albemarle Director of Planning and Development Services Kevin Robinson presented the topic’s information to the council members, leading to a lengthy discussion among the council and members of the public.
Along with the AX-24-03 annexation request, Carolina Development Services LLC also requested a rezoning of the property into an R-10 district to foster the plans for a single-family subdivision, making up the third phase of the Morgan Hills Phase 1 and 2 development.
“It’s projected that approximately 165 units of single family homes would be constructed,” Robinson said. “There would be just over one mile of new streets, which would yield a long-term annual tax revenue of approximately $4,200 per acre. This would put it in the top 4% of properties for revenues in the city, providing an annual net surplus revenue to the city of $68,000, or approximately 21% of the total revenue generated from the development.”
Following a discussion, the council voted 4-3 to pass the annexation request, with Mayor Pro-Tem Martha Sue Hall and Councilmembers Dexter Townsend, Chris Whitley, and Benton Dry voting in favor of it. Councilmembers Chris Bramlett, Bill Aldridge, and David Hunt voted against the request.
Bramlett voiced his concerns with overcrowding and mentioned that citizens have spoken to him directly about the issue: “I’m having a lot of people tell me that we’re getting a lot of developments, but it’s a whole bunch of houses too put together and crowded, and that sort of thing. I don’t know if that’s good for us. I prefer to have our housing and people living in the city, but 4,000 units in the city that only has 16,000 people — that just seems out of whack.”
Kim Faulkner, a 30-plus year resident of Marlbrook Drive, also spoke out against the further growth of Morgan Hills.
“I want to tell you what it’s like to live there,” Faulkner said. “Over the last three years, we have endured fire and smoke from them clearing the land, burning the timber and stuff that they couldn’t use, as well as dust clouds from no vegetation, no trees, no nothing but dirt and dust. Sunday is the only day we get any peace in our neighborhood.”
While both of the Morgan Hills subdivision’s first two phases are zoned R-10, the council opted for a less dense zoning classification for the third phase, citing the limited separation between the houses already built within the existing subdivision.
Later on in the discussion, Dry made a motion to zone the tract R-15 instead to ensure a 15,000 square foot minimum lot size, which could be reduced to 7,500 square feet through clustering; his zoning motion passed 4-3 with the same voting delegation as the annexation vote.
The Albemarle City Council is set to meet again on Nov. 4 at 6:30 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers.