TO: Mayor and Members of City Council
THRU: Kelly Strickland - Assistant City Manager
Dr. Gerald Newton, AICP - Development Services Director
FROM: Craig Harmon - Senior Planner
Heather Eckhardt, CZO - Planner II
DATE: October 27, 2025
RE:Title
P25-30: A request to rezone 2211 Rosehill Road (0438470005000), consisting of 21.27 acres and owned by Cross Creek Refuse LLC, from Single Family Residential 6 (SF-6) to Mixed Residential 5 (MR-5). (Tabled from August 25) Title
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COUNCIL DISTRICT(S):
Council District(s)
2 - Malik Davis
b
Relationship To Strategic Plan:
Reclassification from SF-6 to MR-5 advances the City’s FY2025 Strategic Plan by enabling context-appropriate, infrastructure-efficient housing growth on an infill tract with access to public services. The district’s mix of housing types at moderate densities supports economic resilience, neighborhood reinvestment, and long-term fiscal health.
Goal II - Diverse & Viable Economy
• Broadens the tax base by allowing additional dwelling units and product types on already-serviced land, improving taxable value per acre relative to detached-only patterns.
• Signals regulatory certainty that can catalyze reinvestment and job-supporting activity in construction and allied services.
• Uses existing utilities and streets more intensively, improving return on prior public investments.
Goal III - Invested in Today & Tomorrow (Strategic Growth & Land Use)
• Directs growth to a location contiguous with the urban fabric and public utilities, reducing pressure on greenfield areas and supporting a more compact city form.
• Aligns with medium-density residential policy by accommodating townhomes, duplexes, and small-scale multifamily where appropriate transitions and site design can be provided.
• Creates opportunities to integrate open space, stormwater best-management practices, and multimodal connectivity at the master-planning stage.
Goal IV - Live, Work, & Recreate (Neighborhood Revitalization & Housing Choice)
• Expands housing choice for a range of households (e.g., starter, workforce, multigenerational) without displacing lower-intensity options permitted today.
• Supports corridor reinvestment by adding nearby residents to sustain local services, parks, and everyday retail.
• Encourages complete-neighborhood outcomes by siting homes closer to jobs, schools, and civic amenities.
Goal VI - Collaborative & Trusted Government
• Advances transparent, predictable decision-making through a legislative rezoning that applies clear, citywide development standards.
• Provides a framework for ongoing coordination among Planning, Engineering/Stormwater, and utility partners to ensure capacity, access, and safety are addressed during site design and permitting.
Anticipated performance indicators (how this supports plan tracking)
• Net new dwelling units and diversity of housing types delivered.
• Increase in taxable value per acre on the subject parcels over a 5-10-year horizon.
• Share of housing growth occurring on infill/serviced land versus fringe locations.
• Multimodal access metrics captured at site plan (block length, sidewalk/path connectivity, transit adjacency where applicable).
Conclusion
The MR-5 designation advances Strategic Plan goals by pairing modest density with housing diversity on a serviced infill site, strengthening the tax base, supporting neighborhood vitality, and leveraging existing infrastructure in a fiscally responsible manner.
Executive Summary:
Case P25-30 requests conventional rezoning of ±21.27 acres at 2211 Rosehill Road (REID 0438470005000), owned by Cross Creek Refuse LLC, from SF-6 to MR-5 to enable a broader mix of moderate-density housing types on a serviced infill tract. The change aligns with the area’s medium-density residential policy framework, supports Strategic Plan priorities to diversify the tax base, manage growth where infrastructure exists, and expand housing choice, and provides a predictable set of citywide standards for compatibility. Access, internal circulation, and any turn-lane or frontage improvements will be determined during development review in coordination with transportation agencies; water, sewer, and electric connections and capacity will be finalized at permitting. Environmental resources - including required stream buffers, floodplain, and stormwater controls - will be addressed under existing UDO and state requirements, with opportunities to cluster development away from sensitive areas. Overall, the request is expected to yield neutral-to-modestly positive fiscal outcomes, moderate transportation impacts mitigated through standard conditions, and community benefits from added housing options near established services.
At its meeting on July 8, 2025, the Zoning Commission voted to deny the rezoning request following public testimony from three speakers in opposition. The applicant subsequently submitted a timely appeal to the City Council.
The appeal was scheduled for City Council consideration as a legislative hearing on August 25, 2025. Between the Zoning Commission hearing and the scheduled Council meeting, community members in opposition organized a neighborhood meeting at Smith Recreation Center in Seabrook Park, which was attended by Assistant City Manager Kelly Strickland and Senior Planner Craig Harmon to address questions and provide information.
During the August 25 City Council meeting, and at the applicant’s request, the Council voted to table the hearing to October 27, 2025. In a subsequent email to the City Clerk, the applicant has now requested that the item be tabled again to the November 2025 City Council meeting, citing that the property owner will be out of the country during the scheduled October meeting.
Background:
Owner: Cross Creek Refuse LLC
Applicant: Benjamin Strout, Strout Architecture
Requested Action: Rezoning from SF-6 (Single-Family Residential 6) to MR-5 (Mixed Residential 5)
Site Location: 2211 Rosehill Road
REID: 0438470005000
Status: Vacant
Size: ±21.27 acres
Public Notification: 153 mailed notices to owners within the statutory radius
NCDOT Project Context: U-4403B - US 401 Business (MLK Fwy) to US 401 Bypass
Adjoining Land Use & Zoning
North (SF-6): Vacant land; single-family residential; religious institution
South (SF-6): Religious institution; apartments
East (SF-6): Vacant land; single-family residential; cemetery
West (SF-6): Vacant land; single-family residential
Land Use Policy Context
The 2040 Comprehensive Plan: Future Land Use Map & Plan (adopted May 26, 2020) applies to properties within the city limits and the Municipal Influence Area (MIA). The subject area is designated Medium Density Residential and Park/Open Space.
Medium Density Residential (MDR): Primarily small-lot single-family neighborhoods at roughly 3-6 dwellings per acre, with duplexes and townhomes interspersed; low-rise apartments may be appropriate. Areas are generally auto-oriented, with some walkable neighborhoods and destinations.
Park/Open Space: Lands typically unsuited for development due to site constraints or environmental/cultural importance; may include passive or active recreation amenities and reserved open space such as undisturbed floodplain.
Issues/Analysis:
The ±21.27-acre tract at 2211 Rosehill Road (REID 0438470005000) occupies the west side of Rosehill Road near its intersection with Courtney Street. It is currently vacant, though historical aerials from the late 1960s and early 1980s show a structure that has since been removed and the site has reverted to open or wooded conditions. Big Cross Creek forms or abuts the rear of the parcel, and portions of the property lie within regulated floodplain and floodway. Those environmental constraints will shape future site design - limiting grading and building envelopes in sensitive areas, triggering compliance with flood damage prevention and stormwater standards, and creating opportunities to preserve riparian buffers and designate functional open space.
The surrounding context is predominantly Single-Family Residential 6 (SF-6) with a mix of uses typical of an established corridor edge: single-family neighborhoods, religious institutions, and the Lafayette Cemetery. Several larger SF-6 parcels remain undeveloped, producing a transitional character between built neighborhoods and open land. Notably, Melvin Place to the south functions as an apartment community despite its SF-6 zoning, and farther south along the corridor the Rosehill Garden Apartments are zoned Mixed Residential 5 (MR-5). Together these conditions indicate an emerging spectrum of housing forms in the area and suggest that “missing-middle” formats can provide an appropriate transition between detached neighborhoods and larger multifamily development.
The request is a conventional (“straight”) rezoning from SF6 to MR-5 under the City’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), processed in accordance with the text and procedures in Section 30-2.C for map amendments. MR-5 is intended to meet diverse housing needs at moderate densities by allowing a range of residential building types - small-lot single-family, duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes, townhouses, and small-scale multifamily - together with associated open space and civic uses permitted by right or with approval per the UDO. Because the request is for a straight district, no site plan or case-specific conditions are under consideration at this stage. If the map amendment is approved, all uses and intensities allowed in MR-5 would be governed by citywide standards for dimensional requirements, access and circulation, landscaping and buffering, tree preservation, lighting, noise, environmental protections, and the applicable review procedures. Compatibility with adjacent uses is addressed through those standing tools - setbacks and height limits, buffer opacity and fencing, façade and screening requirements where applicable - during subdivision and development review rather than by bespoke conditions on the rezoning.
From a mobility perspective, the property fronts Rosehill Road, providing the primary opportunity for vehicular, pedestrian, and potential transit access. Exact driveway locations, internal street and block layout, pedestrian connectivity, and any turn-lane or frontage improvements will be determined at the engineering and driveway-permitting stages in coordination with the City and, as applicable, NCDOT. The corridor is influenced by NCDOT Project U-4403B (US 401 Business/MLK Freeway to US 401 Bypass), signaling network investments that may enhance area capacity and safety over time. While MR-5 entitlements could yield more dwellings than SF-6, trip impacts are typically mitigated through access management, sidewalk and crossing upgrades, internal connectivity, and, if thresholds are met, a traffic impact analysis with any warranted improvements.
Public water, sewer, and electric service are available in the general vicinity; specific connection points, capacity confirmations, and any easements or extensions are resolved through the Technical Review Committee process. Public safety coverage (police, fire, EMS) extends to the area, with hydrant spacing, apparatus access, and response routing evaluated at site plan. Solid-waste service (curbside or centralized) and stormwater best-management practices (detention, water-quality treatment) are established by ordinance and technical manuals and will be sized to the final program. Given the creek corridor, environmental compliance will be a central design driver: no-rise requirements and encroachment prohibitions within floodway, elevation and compensatory storage standards in floodplain, riparian buffer preservation, and erosion and sediment control measures during construction. MR-5’s flexibility allows clustered development that pulls buildings and streets away from sensitive areas while meeting open-space quotas and tree-canopy expectations.
The Future Land Use Map designates the site for Medium Density Residential with Park/Open Space along Big Cross Creek. That policy framework anticipates primarily small-lot single-family neighborhoods at roughly three to six dwellings per acre, with duplexes and townhouses interspersed and the possibility of low-rise apartments inn appropriate locations, while reserving environmentally constrained lands as open space that can support passive or active recreation and water-quality functions. MR-5 provides the zoning toolkit to implement this vision: it enables a range of missing-middle housing types that fit the medium-density envelope, supports walkable internal patterns even in a generally auto-oriented corridor, and facilitates permanent open-space preservation where environmental constraints preclude development.
Compatibility consideration are manageable within the existing code framework. Along SF-6 edges, height and setback transitions combined with landscape buffers can moderate scale and privacy impacts. Where the site interfaces with civic or culturally sensitive uses - such as the Lafayette Cemetery - enhanced buffering, fencing, lighting controls, and managed access can preserve reverence and minimize spillover effects. In relation to nearby multifamily, MR-5 can “fill the gaps” with smaller buildings and varied unit types rather than repeating large, isolated complexes, thereby producing a more gradual gradient of density and form.
In sum, the requested MR-5 classification is a logical evolution of the corridor’s pattern and a faithful implementation of the Future Land Use Map. It would broaden housing choices for starter, workforce, and multigenerational households; leverage existing infrastructure on a serviced infill tract; and embed environmental stewardship by clustering development away from the Big Cross Creek corridor. Approval would advance strategic growth, fiscal efficiency, and neighborhood vitality while relying on the UDO’s established standards to ensure access, utilities, safety, and compatibility are addressed during the subsequent development review.
Budget Impact:
Rezoning the property from SF-6 to MR-5 does not, by itself, appropriate funds or commit the City to new spending; fiscal effects arise only if and when a project is approved and built. Given the site’s infill context and proximity to existing services, the near- to mid-term budget outlook is expected to be neutral to modestly positive for the General Fund, with most growth-related infrastructure funded by the developer and supported by enterprise fund participation where applicable. Over time, MR-5’s higher potential unit yield should increase taxable value per acre relative to a detached-only program, producing additional ad valorem revenue. Incremental population and household formation may also marginally elevate shared revenues such as local options sales/use and vehicle taxes. Stormwater utility billing would rise with impervious area (measured in ERUs), though on-site best-management practices required at permitting will mitigate public system burdens.
One-time revenues would include plan review, subdivision, and building permit fees at the development stages. Water and sewer system development charges and connection fees - collected by the utility - are not General Fund revenues but help defray capacity and extension costs, reducing pressure on public capital outlays. On the expenditure side, public safety, parks/recreation, code compliance, and similar operating costs scale with actual buildout and call volumes; MR-5’s moderate densities generally support efficient service delivery on existing networks. Transportation impacts are address through standard access management, frontage improvements, and any warranted turn lanes or multimodal upgrades at the driveway-permitting and engineering phases, with costs ordinarily borne by the developer and reviewed by the City and, as applicable, NCDOT. If any public streets or facilities are ultimately accepted, the City would assume routine maintenance thereafter; stormwater costs would be limited to public conveyances brought into the system and any downstream facilities already maintained.
No immediate City capital project is triggered by the map amendment. Capacity checks, easements, and any off-site improvements attributable to the development program are resolved through the Technical Review Committee and permitting processes. The corridor’s inclusion in NCDOT Project U-4403B signals broader network investment over time; any site-specific mitigation tied to trip generation would be imposed through standard development review rather than City-initiated capital spending. Administrative costs already incurred - such as mailed notice to 153 properties and required advertising - are minor and absorbed within existing departmental appropriations.
Taken together, the fiscal profile of the rezoning is neutral in the near term (prior to construction) and, absent unforeseen off-site obligations, is expected to become modestly positive as certificates of occupancy are issued, the tax roll grows, and utility and fee revenues materialize while ongoing service costs remain comparatively low on serviced infill land.
Options:
1. Recommend Approval to MR-5 (as requested) - Recommended
Adopt a written statement finding the map amendment consistent with the 2040 Future Land Use Map (Medium Density Residential with Park/Open Space along Big Cross Creek) and reasonable and in the public interest because it enables context-appropriate housing diversity on serviced infill land, provides code-based tools to transition to adjacent SF-6 areas, and preserves environmentally sensitive areas through existing UDO standards.
2. Recommend Approval to a More Restrictive District (Commission-specified)
If the Commission concludes a lower-intensity classification is warranted, identify the alternative district on the record and adopt a revised statement of consistency and reasonableness explaining why the alternative better addresses adjacency, access constraints, or environmental sensitivities while remaining aligned with the Future Land Use Map.
3. Recommend Denial
Adopt a written statement finding the request inconsistent with the Future land Use Map and/or not reasonable and not in the public interest, citing specific facts such as incompatibility with adjacent SF-6 patterns, unresolved transportation or infrastructure constraints, or inadequate protections of environmental resources.
Recommended Action::Recommended Action
• The Professional Planning Staff recommends that the City Council approve the straight rezoning from SF-6 to MR-5. The request is consistent with the Future Land Use Plan’s Medium Density Residential designation with Park/Open Space along Big Cross Creek, and MR-5 provides the appropriate toolkit to implement that policy by allowing small-lot detached, duplex/townhome, and low-rise multifamily while preserving environmentally constrained areas through open-space and buffer requirements. The range of MR-5 uses, and associated development standards is suitable for this corridor given the surrounding mix of single-family neighborhoods, civic uses, and nearby multifamily, and compatibility will be addressed through the UDO’s citywide requirements for setbacks, height, landscaping/buffering, lighting, access, and stormwater. Transportation access, utility connections, and public-safety considerations will be reviewed and conditioned at the subdivision and site-plan stages. No evidence indicates factors that would substantially harm public health, safety, morals, or general welfare.
Note: As a reminder, this application was denied by the Zoning Commission and has been appealed to the City Council for further consideration.
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Attachments:
1. Plan Application
2. Aerial Notification Map
3. Zoning Map
4. Land Use Plan Map
5. Subject Property
6. Surrounding Property Photos
7. Consistency and Reasonableness Statement
8. Powerpoint