Holland Road Rezoning

At a glance

What: Rezoning Case 25CZ21, a request to rezone a Holland Road property (continued from April 28, 2026) for roughly 13 homes on a single street connection, with commitments including solar, sidewalks and an affordable housing payment.
Where it stands: on May 28, 2026 Council denied the rezoning 4-0 on a motion by Mayor Pro Tem Mahaffey, seconded by Reese (Gray absent).
Next: the applicant said it would be comfortable developing by right, which would allow three to six homes.

Senior Planner Bielen presented. The affordable housing offer was a $50,000 payment before the first plat; the policy amount is $218,000. The applicant's attorney Nil Ghosh (Morning Star Law Group), with Patrick Kiernan (Jones and Cnossen Engineering), raised the offer to the full $218,000, added one solar-powered home as the Environmental Advisory Board requested, amended condition 22 as staff asked, and listed off-site sidewalk, future pedestrian connectivity, green building and neighborhood character commitments.
The applicant said it had support from more than 20 nearby residents and a unanimous Planning Board recommendation, and asked for relief from the 500-foot street connectivity spacing standard because the frontage is too short, offering two road stubs south toward a future extension of Pretorio Place.

Dave Hepburn, a resident of the adjoining neighborhood for 18 years, said he is not against development but asked that the three-lane thoroughfare in zoning condition 18 be extended about 150 feet through the neighborhood entrance. He said the curve is dangerous and three more developments on Holland Road would add over 320 houses and townhomes.

Zegerman said the Unified Development Ordinance limits a single street connection to 50 units; the existing neighborhood of 80-plus homes already ends on one street and this would add 13. He did not appreciate the suggestion that Council would get nothing if it denied the case.
Mayor Pro Tem Mahaffey called the 50-unit rule a hard rule. Mu said traffic remained a problem. Reese said he would support a project consistent with the ordinance and disliked the by-right comparison.
Mr. Ghosh said traffic measures went beyond what the ordinance requires and were reviewed by the Town's Transportation Department and NCDOT.

Public hearing; denied 4-0.