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Town Council Business Meeting

Town of Holly Springs · Town Council
Tuesday, August 18, 2026 at 7:00 pm

Regular meeting Fire and EMSPublic facilitiesContracts and procurementParks and recreationPolice and public safetyAppointments and personnelBudget and appropriationsRezoningSubdivision and site plans

Agenda document Full packet Minutes Meeting page Watch Meeting recap

What's on this agenda

Holly Springs Town Council decides the fate of the 25-REZ-08 rezoning at 2420 Avent Ferry Road, a 32.28-acre McAdams-designed project for 53 single-family homes and at least 5,000 square feet of commercial space, now that the Planning Board deadlocked 3-3 on a motion to deny it. Since that split vote, the applicant raised the minimum commercial building height and widened a buffer along the planned Buckhorn Duncan Road extension; staff still recommends approval, and council also considers the related utility allocation and development agreement. The council separately approves a five-year, roughly $2.15 million Oracle NetSuite contract ($457,269 in one-time implementation costs plus about $139,670 a year in subscription fees) to replace the town's 20-year-old New World financial and utility billing system, which vendor Tyler Technologies has stopped developing.

On the lighter side, the council proclaims Firefighter Appreciation Month, Emergency Preparedness Month, and Farmers Market Week, and hears the fire department's annual report. Consent items include monthly budget amendments, a landscape maintenance contract expansion, a parking lot rehab at the North Main Athletic Complex, a $287,310 excavator purchase, a firearm and badge surplus for a retiring officer, and a Fire Station 2 kitchen renovation. The council also fills a Planning Board ETJ vacancy left by Tanner Davis's resignation and closes the meeting for a closed session.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

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

The council deferred the Avent Ferry Road rezoning rather than decide it. Members wanted the crosswalk across Avent Ferry written down as a commitment, a separate entrance for the commercial pod so six driveways would not face its parking lot, a buffer against its lights and noise, a cap on its size, and a condition naming what kind of store it would be. Council member Deshazor said he wanted it specified as a grocery so it could not become a mattress store; the applicant's attorney said they would add clarifying language. The town attorney reminded the council it cannot write zoning conditions itself. The motion to defer, by Deshazor and seconded by Larson, was unanimous.

The applicant is a family that wants to build a home on the land and run a small international grocery there, and the plan is 53 houses with about 1,400 linear feet of Avent Ferry frontage improvements, an extension of Buckhorn Duncan Road and a stream crossing. The traffic engineer put the development at 1,400 daily trips, 871 of them to the commercial pod. The Planning Board had split 3-3 and made no recommendation; staff recommended approval.

The council also replaced a 20-year-old financial system. It approved Oracle NetSuite on a five-year agreement at $457,269 to implement and $139,670 a year, which staff put at about $45,000 cheaper over five years than staying put. Migration starts in late autumn, takes about 18 months and goes live in 2028, with three years of data moved and the rest kept read-only. It recommended Hannah Peptis to the Wake County commissioners for the Planning Board's extraterritorial seat, to February 2029.

The manager used his report to explain the town's data center moratorium: a 12-month pause to study how data centers are defined and what development requirements the town can set, because state law does not let a town ban a kind of business but does let it regulate character, quality and location. He pointed residents to a feedback portal. Fire chief LeRoy Smith gave the department's annual report, covering nearly 3,000 calls for service, 84 full-time staff all trained as EMTs, and a replacement schedule of 15 years for front-line vehicles.

How the votes went

Every recorded vote was unanimous with all six members present. The consent agenda passed on a motion by Mayor Pro Tem Drees seconded by Hewetson. Rezoning 25-REZ-08 at 2420 Avent Ferry Road was deferred on a motion by Deshazor seconded by Larson. The Oracle agreement passed on a motion by Drees seconded by Deshazor, and the Planning Board recommendation on a motion by Drees seconded by Hewetson. The Planning Board itself had deadlocked 3-3 on the rezoning and sent no recommendation.

From the published minutes.

Who spoke

4 members of the public spoke.

  1. Willy McNeil of Simmer Springs Court, whose grandparents farmed tobacco on Bass Lake Road from 1973, asked the town to help people with addiction and said Holly Springs, Apex and Fuquay-Varina have grown enough to need a rehabilitation or detox center.
  2. Olivia Mancil, an 11-year-old sixth grader at Holly Ridge Middle who lives on Harvestwood, asked the council to take the Harvestwood extension out of the Northeast Gateway Plan, saying it would create a cut-through where children play and would disturb the wetlands behind her street.
  3. Adam Sullivan of Field Pine Way, a board member and former president of the Wood Creek homeowners association, said his 872-home neighborhood feels forgotten and cannot get out when there is a wreck on Lockley, and asked that Wood Creek be included in the Northeast Gateway Plan.
  4. Fran Hudson of Rex Road gave the council a notice of liability and asked members to answer it or follow the Constitution, saying an attorney's advice does not guarantee that the council's actions comply.

Read from the records the government published after the meeting. Members of the public are private residents and are not named or indexed.

Speaking at this meeting

Town of Holly Springs's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Jump to an item (15 on this agenda)
  1. 5Firefighter Appreciation Month
  2. 6Emergency Preparedness Month Proclamation
  3. 7Farmers Market Week Proclamation
  4. 8Holly Springs Fire Department Annual Report
  5. 9July 21, 2026 Business Meetings Minutes
  6. 10Monthly Budget Amendments
  7. 11Amend Town Council Meetings Calendar
  8. 12Amendment to Townwide Landscape Maintenance Contract to add Holly Spr…
  9. 13North Main Athletic Complex Parking Lot Rehabilitation
  10. 14Purchase Contract with Gregory Poole for the Purchase of an Excavator
  11. 15Surplus of Firearm and Badge for Police Department Retirement
  12. 16Fire Station 2 Kitchen Renovation Contract
  13. 17Rezoning 25-REZ-08 2420 Avent Ferry Road and Development Agreement
  14. 18Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning Software Agreement
  15. 19Planning Board Midterm Appointment

Agenda items (15)

Contract or award · 6Proclamation or recognition · 3Staff or committee report · 1Minutes approval · 1Budget action · 1Procedural · 1Consent agenda · 1Appointment · 1
  1. 5 Firefighter Appreciation Month
    Proclamation or recognition Fire and EMS
    Proclamation recognizing Firefighter Appreciation Month.
  2. 6 Emergency Preparedness Month Proclamation
    Proclamation or recognition Police and public safety
    Proclamation recognizing Emergency Preparedness Month.
  3. 7 Farmers Market Week Proclamation
    Proclamation or recognition
    Proclamation recognizing Farmers Market Week.
  4. 8 Holly Springs Fire Department Annual Report
    Staff or committee report Fire and EMS
    Annual report from the Holly Springs Fire Department.
  5. 9 July 21, 2026 Business Meetings Minutes
    Minutes approval
    Approval of the July 21, 2026 business meeting minutes.
  6. 10 Monthly Budget Amendments
    Budget action Budget and appropriations
    Routine monthly budget amendments, including a budget close-out and reappropriation of centrifuge rental funds.
  7. 11 Amend Town Council Meetings Calendar
    Procedural
    Amendment to the town council's meeting calendar.
  8. 12 Amendment to Townwide Landscape Maintenance Contract to add Holly Springs Rd and Operations Campus
    Contract or award Public facilities
    Contract amendment adding Holly Springs Road and the Operations Campus to the townwide landscape maintenance contract with Greenscape.
  9. 13 North Main Athletic Complex Parking Lot Rehabilitation
    Contract or award Parks and recreationPublic facilities
    Construction contract to rehabilitate the parking lot at the North Main Athletic Complex.
  10. 14 Purchase Contract with Gregory Poole for the Purchase of an Excavator
    Contract or award
    Purchase contract with Gregory Poole for an excavator, not to exceed $287,310.
  1. 16 Fire Station 2 Kitchen Renovation Contract
    Contract or award Fire and EMSPublic facilities
    Construction contract for a kitchen renovation at Fire Station 2.
  2. 17 Rezoning 25-REZ-08 2420 Avent Ferry Road and Development Agreement
    Contract or award Contracts and procurementParks and recreationRezoningSubdivision and site plans
    Council considers final approval of rezoning 32.28 acres at 2420 Avent Ferry Road from Rural Residential to Suburban Residential and Neighborhood Mixed-Use Conditional Districts for a 53-lot subdivision and commercial pad, plus the related utility allocation and development agreement, after the Planning Board deadlocked 3-3 on a motion to deny. Staff recommends approval.
    From the minutes: From the minutes: approved on the consent agenda. Fred Smith Company received $1,078,637 plus $161,796 contingency for the North Main Athletic Complex parking lot rehabilitation, and Bolton & Menk $157,500 plus $23,625 for construction administration and inspection.
  3. 18 Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning Software Agreement
    Contract or award Contracts and procurement
    Five-year Oracle NetSuite contract to replace the town's aging New World ERP system, covering financial management and utility billing, with $457,269 in one-time implementation fees and about $139,669.56 a year in subscription licensing.
  4. 19 Planning Board Midterm Appointment
    Appointment Appointments and personnel
    Recommendation to Wake County to appoint a new ETJ member to the Planning Board for the remainder of a term ending February 28, 2029, following Tanner Davis's resignation; three applications were received.

Agenda changes

What moved between published versions of this agenda. Item numbers shift constantly as things are inserted, so only genuine additions and removals are listed.

Other recent meetings of this board