TO: Mayor and Members of City Council
THRU: Dr. Gerald Newton, AICP - Development Services Director
FROM: Demetrios Moutos - Planner I
DATE: October 27, 2025
RE:Title
Approve P25-45: Request to rezone 2.55 acres (PIN 0425754360000) from County M(P) to LI, owned by CRA Commercial Development, represented by Lori Epler of Larry King & Assoc.
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COUNCIL DISTRICT(S):
Council District(s)
2 - Council Member Malik Davis
b
Relationship To Strategic Plan:
(FY2025 Strategic Plan, Goals II & III)
The request is to rezone ~2.55 acres from M(P) (county) to LI - Light Industrial in conjunction with annexation; the site is vacant and within an area mapped as Employment Center on the City’s Future Land Use Map. This land-use direction supports industrial and employment center activity near the airport.
All future structures and uses will be subject to the Airport Overlay standards and FAA Part 77 airspace review, and high-occupancy assembly or bird-attracting uses are restricted.
While the parcel lies within the Employment Center area, portions depict Low-Density Residential on the adopted Future Land Use Map; approval should include a concurrent Map update to Employment Center for consistency.
• Goal II - Diverse & Viable Economy - Consistent
o Advances a diverse tax base and job creation by positioning a small, airport-proximate parcel for light-industrial use consistent with the FLU “Employment Center” designation.
o Supports the City’s objectives to leverage partnerships for job creation/retention and to sustain a favorable development climate; industrial zoning enables recruitment/expansion efforts led by FCEDC and partners.
o Relevant Strategic Plan performance measures include % increase in tax base, jobs created by ECD programs, and industrial vacancy rate - all positively influenced by appropriate LI entitlements.
• Goal III - City Investment Planning - Consistent
o Implements Objective 3.2: manage the City’s future growth and strategic land use by aligning zoning with the FLU map and focusing employment uses in planned nodes.
o Conforms to the Future Land Use Plan’s policies to encourage strategic economic development in Industrial/Employment Areas and to coordinate required utilities/transportation capacity for target industries.
o The Future Land Use Plan expressly ties its guidance to the City’s Strategic Plan Goal III; this case follows that integration by translating the Employment Center policy direction into zoning.
• Goal IV - Live, Work, & Recreate - Supportive/Context-Sensitive
o Proximity to the airport and existing industrial corridor makes LI an appropriate, low-conflict use that complements Objective 4.1 (transit & airport services) and regional connectivity aims.
• Goal I - Safety and Security - Neutral with standard conditions
o No direct policy conflict; site-plan-level commitments to safe access management, lighting, and CPTED principles can advance traffic/pedestrian safety objectives. (Implementation at permitting stage.)
• Goal V - Financially Sound City - Neutral to Positive
o Anticipated positive fiscal effect via taxable investment without requiring atypical extensions of City services (public water/sewer available per application). Detailed fiscal impacts would be evaluated at the site plan; rezoning itself does not obligate major capital outlays.
o The map amendment triggers no atypical City capital outlay; any utility extensions or frontage improvements, if required, will be developer-funded under existing policies.
• Goal VI - Collaborative Government - Neutral with coordination benefits
o Provides a platform for collaboration with FCEDC, PWC, and adjacent stakeholders during development review; no direct alignment or conflict with adopted KPIs.
• Compatibility/mitigation note (adjacencies)
o The application notes two large residential lots at the rear; ordinance-required buffering will address edge conditions and maintain compatibility, consistent with strategic investment and quality-of-life aims.
The requested M(P) to LI rezoning is consistent with the FY2025 Strategic Plan - most strongly with Goal II (economy) and Goal III (strategic land use) - by aligning entitlements with the Employment Center future land use designation, supporting job growth, and concentrating industry near existing airport-area infrastructure.
Executive Summary:
The applicant seeks annexation and rezoning of approximately 2.55 acres (PIN 0425754360000) from Cumberland County M(P) to City of Fayetteville LI (Light Industrial) to align the site with the established industrial pattern near Fayetteville Regional Airport. The property is vacant, has access to public water and sewer, and sits within an airport-area employment corridor. City case mapping reflects the requested change from M(P) to LI, and the Future Land Use Plan identifies an Employment Center/Low-Density Residential context at this location. Consistent with the Plan’s direction to focus employment uses in serviced, strategically located nodes, LI is an appropriate district for this site.
The LI district would accommodate light industrial, job producing uses while maintaining compatibility with nearby development through the City’s buffering, screening, access, lighting, and performance standards, including required separation and buffering to the two large residential lots to the east. The applicant reports no environmentally sensitive features on the tract. The request is not strip or premature development, does not create an isolated zoning patterns, and clusters industry within an infrastructure-served corridor proximate to the airport. The action advances Strategic Plan Goal II (a diverse, viable economy) and Goal III (managed growth and strategic land use). Staff finds the request consistent with adopted plans, reasonable, and in the public interest and recommends approval of the annexation and rezoning to LI.
The Zoning Commission conducted a legislative hearing on September 9, 2025; no speakers appeared in opposition, and the Commission voted 3-0 to recommend approval.
Background:
Owner: Brian Armstrong, CRA Commercial Development (Contact: Brian Armstrong)
Applicant: Lori Epler, Larry King & Associates, PA
Requested Action: Annexation-related rezoning from County M(P) (Planned Industrial) to City LI (Light Industrial)
REID #: 0425754360000 (unaddressed)
Status of Property: Vacant; no existing structures.
Size: 2.55 acres ±
Adjoining Land Use & Zoning:
• East: County R10 large-lot residential; two residential lots abut the site’s eastern boundary. Per ordinance, buffering will be required.
• North/West/South: Predominantly industrial/employment uses and districts in the immediate vicinity (MP/HI), with additional CC and MR-5 districts present along the corridor.
Letters Mailed: 135; notices to all owners within a 1,000-ft buffer.
Land Use Plans:
With the Future Land Use Plan calling for an Employment Center at this location, the requested LI district is consistent with adopted guidance. The City’s Future Land Use Plan further prioritizes strategic economic development in designated employment/industrial areas and supports channeling industrial growth near key infrastructure nodes such as the airport; advancing LI zoning here aligns with those policies and the surrounding development pattern.
Issues/Analysis:
History:
Beginning in the early 2000s, the subject frontage along Black & Decker Road was assembled through successive conveyances: A December 2000 General Warranty Deed from Biltwell, Inc. to CRA Commercial Development, Inc. (BK 5370/0534-0538) followed by a 2003 deed from March F. Riddle conveying the ±1.287-acre “Black and Decker Road Tract” (BK 6337/125-127). A recombination plat titled “CRA Black and Decker Commercial” (Larry King & Associates) established the present multi-lot configuration.
The corporate owner later updated its form-CRA Commercial Development, Inc. converted to CRA Commercial Development, LLC per a recorded Certificate of Conversion on February 21, 2019 (BK 10450/0666)-and acquired additional frontage in August 2021, when Southside Property, L.L.C. conveyed Lot 2 of the Donna R. Garner Property (PB 86/163) to CRA Commercial Development, LLC by Special Warranty Deed (BK 11215/0041-0043).
For the current action, an Affidavit of Ownership identifies the owner/affiant and lists the site as 3456 Black & Decker Road; the pending map amendment (Case P25-45) applies to PIN 0425754360000 (±2.55 acres), which is presently vacant. Subsequent sections address entitlement context and policy consistency.
Together, the chain of title in the case file, the recombination plat, and the current application establish a long-standing commercial/industrial intent for this Black & Decker Road frontage, culminating in today’s request to align the rezoning with the assembled ownership and the City’s adopted land-use guidance.
Surrounding Area:
UDO buffering and LI height step-downs adjacent to single-family districts will apply at the site plan to mitigate visual and noise externalities along the shared edges to the east.
The subject parcel (PIN 0425754360000) lies within an established, airport-adjacent industrial corridor that includes multiple active and planned industrial sites. The immediate setting is predominantly industrial and service-commercial in character, with quick access to major truck routes and airport facilities. Within the 1,000-foot notification buffer, the landscape transitions from light/heavy industrial and corridor commercial to pockets of residential, typical of the Southwest Cumberland fringe near City limits.
Adjoining zoning and land use reflect this pattern. The application notes two large-lot single-family parcels to the east in the County (R10), whose rear lot lines abut the
subject tract; all other edges are oriented toward industrial or employment uses, with nearby districts including MP and HI as well as community commercial (CC). These conditions yield a setting where light industrial is the prevailing context, and where residential interfaces are limited to the east and can be addressed through required buffering at the site plan.
From a planning-policy standpoint, the Future Land Use Map identifies the area for employment/industrial use, supporting continued industrial reinvestment at this location and reinforcing the airport-proximate employment center. This designation aligns with the requested Light Industrial zoning and the broader employment focus for Southwest Cumberland.
Rezoning Request:
This is a straight (general-use) rezoning of one parcel (PIN 0425754360000), approximately 2.55 acres, from Cumberland County M(P) Planned Industrial to City of Fayetteville Light Industrial (LI), concurrent with annexation. As a straight rezoning under UDO §30-2.C, no conditions may be attached; if approved, all uses permitted in LI by the UDO Use Table would be allowed, subject to standard development regulations and subsequent site plan review.
The subject property is currently vacant and lies within an established industrial corridor near Fayetteville Regional Airport, with industrial zoning and uses prevalent in the immediate area. The request does not propose a specific development or physical expansion at this time; rather, it converts the county industrial zoning to the most comparable City district to ensure consistency with the Future Land Use Plan and to facilitate orderly administration of City standards (e.g., access management, utilities, stormwater, and buffering where required adjacent to residential lots).
Light Industrial and Airport Overlay Overview:
The LI district is intended for light manufacturing, assembly, fabrication, processing, warehousing/distribution, and research and development uses that have minimal off-site impacts. It allows limited supporting retail and is calibrated to protect nearby areas - especially residential - through setbacks, height transitions, and buffering. Typical dimensional rules include: minimum lot area 20,000 sq. ft.; minimum lot width 75 ft.; maximum lot coverage 65%; maximum height 90 ft. (reduced to 50 ft. when abutting single-family districts); front/corner setback, the lesser of 50 ft. or 75 ft. from street centerline; side setback 15 ft. (100 ft. when abutting residential); rear setback 20 ft. (none where abutting a railroad). Accessory structures are restricted from front/side yards and must observe larger setbacks next to residential.
Per UDO dimensional and adjacency standards, LI development must meet all current lot, height, setback, and buffering requirements; figures cited herein are subject to verification against the current UDO table at the site plan.
The APO is an overlay applied to properties in the vicinity of the municipal airport to protect public health, safety, and airport operations. It does not change base zoning entitlements but layers on additional standards and reviews. Core provisions typically include: height and structure review under FAA Part 77 airspace surfaces; limits on uses that could create safety or operational conflicts (e.g., high-occupancy assembly in
critical areas, significant bird-attracting uses, intense lighting/glare, or visual signal interference); lighting and glare controls; and notice requirements acknowledging proximity to airport activities. The overlay works in concert with any separate Noise-Accident Potential (NPO) standards and ensures compatibility between ground development and aviation operations.
Land Use Plan Analysis:
The request is a straight rezoning of an approximately 2.55-acre, vacant parcel (PIN 0425754360000) from County M(P) to City LI in conjunction with annexation; the applicant notes proximity to the airport and an established industrial corridor, with public water and sewer available. The case map set depicts the subject site and confirms the case framing; the Future Land Use exhibit includes a legend for EC (Employment Center), HC (Highway Commercial), and LDR (Low Density Residential), among other designations, for evaluating consistency.
The City’s Future Land Use Plan (FLUP) is the adopted policy guide that supersedes legacy small-area designations and is to be used, together with the mapped character areas, to review all land-use petitions - including rezonings - for consistency with plan goals and strategies.
Goal #1 - Focus value and investment around infrastructure and strategic nodes. The site is served (or serviceable) by public utilities, and the FLUP directs growth toward areas with available roads, utilities, and public services; it further encourages more intense uses at defined activity areas.
Goal #3 - Encourage redevelopment of strip commercial areas. While not a strip-commercial site, approving appropriately located industrial capacity can reduce pressure to force ill-fitting commercial intensification elsewhere and indirectly supports the FLUP’s approach of concentrating retail at focal nodes and reinvesting in aging strips.
Goal #4 - Foster safe, stable, and attractive neighborhoods. Where LI abuts residentially designated land, the FLUP’s neighborhood-quality emphasis implies robust buffering, access management, and site design to avoid adverse externalities.
Goal #5 - Preserve and enhance environmental features. The applicant identifies no environmentally sensitive features; nevertheless, the FLUP emphasizes respecting floodplain and hydric soil constraints, which can be addressed at the site plan through stormwater and resource protection standards.
Goal #6 - Compliment and capitalize on the strategic importance of military installations and major institutions. While this goal is framed around Fort Bragg and other institutions, the planning logic - compatibility near strategic installations - applies similarly to airport environs, supporting industrial and employment uses that are less noise-sensitive and operationally compatible.
LU-1 (Strategic, compatible growth). The plan directs growth to areas well-served by infrastructure and discourages leapfrog development; it also uses the FLU Map to guide utility expansion - conditions met here give service availability and adjacency to an existing employment cluster.
LU-2 (Strategic economic development). The FLUP explicitly encourages economic development in designated areas such as Industrial/Employment Areas and calls for identifying opportunity sites for manufacturing based on transportation access and surrounding land uses. It also cautions against residential actions that would impair prime industrial sites. The airport-area industrial corridor is a logical “opportunity site” under this policy.
LU-3 (Reinvestment in strips / distressed areas). Not directly applicable to this parcel, but the policy context favors placing the “right uses” in “right places,” enabling targeted reinvestment pressure to focus on priority corridors rather than dispersing marginal commercial intensities.
Neighborhood quality and housing (LU-6, LU-7). Where LI interfaces with LDR character, the plan’s neighborhood policies support buffering, screening, and design measures to maintain residential quality, which can be implemented at the site-development stage.
Environmental resilience (LU-8, LU-9, LU-10). The site should demonstrate compliance with open-space/tree standards and greenway plans where applicable, and deliver resilient stormwater design consistent with plan guidance.
Institutions and installations (LU-12, LU-13). The FLUP calls for coordination with major installations (e.g., Fort Bragg) to ensure compatible patterns; by extension, siting industrial/employment uses within the Airport Overlay District aligns with the plan’s compatibility logic for strategic assets.
Public engagement recorded the airport among the community’s “destinations and assets” to preserve, suggesting that development patterns that respect airport operations are favored. Industrial and office development was supported “in certain places,” which fits the context of an airport-proximate employment corridor. The applicant’s narrative places the site “near the airport and an industrial corridor,” reinforcing both operational compatibility and clustering benefits.
The FLUP’s community profile notes a significant share of vacant land around the I-295 corridor and more land zoned commercial than in commercial use, underscoring the need to right-size nonresidential designations and direct employment growth to suitable nodes. The plan also documents environmental constraints concentrated along the Cape Fear River - less applicable to this site - but emphasizes respecting those constraints citywide, which LI development can satisfy through compliance at TRC.
The FLUP instructs staff and boards to use both the text and the map to guide decisions, review all petitions for consistency, and keep the map current - updating it “based on rezoning decisions.” If the adopted FLU Map presently shows LDR on or adjacent to the subject tract, then the requested LI district is map-inconsistent; however, it may still be text-consistent with multiple FLUP goals and LU-2 strategies given location within the Airport Overlay context and adjacency to an existing industrial cluster. In such cases, approval would (and should) be accompanied by a corresponding FLU Map update to reflect an Employment/Industrial character in this “certain place,” per Strategy #1.
Consistency and Reasonableness:
Consistency (text): The request advances Goal #1 (infrastructure-served growth) and Goal #2 (targeted economic development), implements LU-1 and LU-2 (directing employment to appropriate nodes with utilities and transportation access), aligns with Goal #6/LU-12’s compatibility ethos for strategic installations by placing non-noise-sensitive uses within the Airport Overlay, and can satisfy LU-6 and LU-8-LU-10 through buffering and resilient site design.
Inconsistency (map): The adopted FLU Map for this parcel is partially EC and partially LDR. As such, the LI request conflicts with that map designation. A finding of reasonableness remains supportable due to corridor context, airport proximity, existing industrial pattern, and the Plan’s direction to maintain/expand industrial capacity in appropriate locations; any approval should explicitly amend the FLU Map accordingly at or after the decision.
Conclusion:
On balance, the request is substantially consistent with the FLUP text and intent (LU-1, LU-2, Goal #6) but inconsistent with the current FLU Map. With conditions typical to LI-residential (buffers, lighting/noise control, access management) and adherence to Airport Overlay standards, staff can support a consistency statement that the request conforms to the FLUP’s goals and policies and, if approved, should trigger the corresponding FLU Map update to an Employment/Industrial character for this location.
Budget Impact:
In the near term, the rezoning petition is expected to have a negligible impact on the City’s budget. Administrative costs associated with processing, public notice, agenda preparation, and the public hearing are routine and already accommodated within the Planning & Zoning operating budget and application fee structure. The subject site is vacant and 2.55 acres, so there are no relocation or acquisition costs.
The map amendment itself creates no capital commitments. Water and sewer are indicated as public utilities, but any future extensions, transportation mitigations, or stormwater improvements would be evaluated at development review; where warranted, they are typically borne by the applicant or addressed through standard utility/transportation programs, consistent with the City’s Future Land Use Plan policies to coordinate infrastructure and consider costs/benefits before extensions (LU-1).
Over the long term, if the property develops with permitted LI uses, the City could realize positive fiscal effects through growth in the ad valorem tax base and incremental permit/inspection revenues, aligning with Strategic Plan Goal II (diverse and viable economy) and Goal V (financially sound city). The Future Land Use materials for this case and the City’s plan more broadly anticipate employment/industrial opportunities in appropriate locations, which supports tax-base diversification without immediate General Fund outlays.
Net: minimal short-term budget impact; potential long-term positive revenue if development proceeds, with any infrastructure responsibilities addressed at the project stage under existing policies and review processes.
Options:
As the decision-making body, City Council may consider the following motions for Case P25-45 (PIN 0425754360000; ~2.55 acres; request from Cumberland County M(P) to City LI; presently vacant and annexation-related):
1. Approve (LI as requested) - Approve the map amendment to Light Industrial (LI) for the entire subject tract, based on the evidence in the record; find the action consistent with the City’s Future Land Use Plan (industrial/employment vision for this area) and adopt the attached plan consistency and reasonableness statement. (Recommended)
2. Approve with Reduced Area (LI) - Approve the map amendment to LI with a reduction in the acreage proposed for rezoning (e.g., excluding portions Council determines should remain in existing zoning), based on the evidence in the record; find the modified action consistent with the Future Land Use Plan and adopt an amended plan consistency and reasonableness statement.
3. Approve to a More Restrictive District - Approve a map amendment to a ore restrictive base zoning district than LI (e.g., a commercial classification) if Council finds, based on the evidence, that such district remains consistent with the Future Land Use Plan; adopt an amended plan consistency and reasonableness statement.
4. Deny - Deny the map amendment request based on the evidence in the record; find the action inconsistent with the Future Land Use Plan and adopt a statement of inconsistency and reasonableness.
Recommended Action::Recommended Action
Move to approve Case P25-45, rezoning ±2.55 acres (PIN 0425754360000) from Cumberland County M(P) to City LI (Light Industrial), finding the action consistent with the text of the City’s Future Land Use Plan (Goals 1-2; Policies LU-1, LU-2) and the FY2025 Strategic Plan (Goals II, III), reasonable, and in the public interest given the airport-area industrial context and availability of public utilities; and, to the extend the adopted Future Land Use Map depicts any Low-Density Residential on the subject tract, to concurrently amend the Map to Employment Center for consistency:
• The request is consistent with the City’s adopted Future Land Use guidance to focus value and investment around existing infrastructure and to promote compatible economic and industrial development in key areas (Goals 1 and 2; Policies LU-1 and LU-2). The planning framework identifies this corridor for employment/industrial use, and case materials note the Southwest Cumberland future land use vision anticipates Light Industrial at this location. The site is served by public water and sewer, reinforcing orderly, infrastructure-efficient growth.
• LI is appropriate and compatible with the surrounding context. Case materials and maps show the subject property is located in a predominantly industrial corridor near the airport with adjacent County M(P)/industrial and nearby City HI and CC districts; applying LI in this location aligns with existing and emerging use patterns and avoids creating an isolated district. Case materials document more than ten industrial sites in the immediate vicinity, and the P25-45 rezoning map illustrates the M(P)-to-LI request on PIN 0425754360000.
• There are no identified adverse impacts on public health, safety, or general welfare resulting from the map amendment. The site is vacant within an established industrial corridor near the airport, and any future development must comply with City development review for access, utilities, stormwater, buffering to the two large residential lots to the east, and all applicable over, fire, and life-safety standards - mitigating site-specific effects at the time of development. The applicant reports no environmentally sensitive areas and will meet buffering requirements per the Unified Development Ordinance.
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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