Land Use Advisory Committee

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

The Land Use Advisory Committee approved its April 7 minutes without discussion, on a unanimous vote moved by Scott Chase and seconded by Chris Deshazor. It then heard early, informal feedback on a proposed rezoning at 1601 Avent Ferry Road: Portman Holdings' Alex Barruso, with attorneys Jason Barron and Leticia Shapiro of Morningstar Law and engineer Laura Holloman of McAdams, is seeking to rezone about 22 acres from Rural Residential to Neighborhood Mixed-Use Conditional District for 308 attached and apartment units and 20,000 square feet of commercial space. No formal action followed. Staff flagged open water, sewer and traffic questions, and members pressed the applicant for a pedestrian connection into the adjacent Eagles Landing Park, more retail space, and a possible roundabout at Cass Holt Road, as guidance ahead of a formal application.

The committee also opened its study of how Holly Springs should regulate data centers, after the Town Council adopted a moratorium on new data center applications on June 16 under Ordinance 26-19. Staff said 28 other North Carolina governments have adopted a similar moratorium and nine more have proposed or approved text amendments, while 21 data centers have been proposed, approved or built statewide over the past year and a half. Van Crandall, Randy Harrington and Sara Kempin asked for public engagement, transparency from applicants and attention to water use; the committee's next meeting is set for August 4.

How the votes went

The only recorded vote of the meeting was the approval of the April 7 minutes, which carried unanimously on a motion by Scott Chase, seconded by Chris Deshazor. Neither the Avent Ferry Road rezoning discussion nor the data center study came to a vote; both were informal committee feedback.

From the published minutes.