NC govwatch

← All meetings

Planning Board Regular Meeting

Town of Hillsborough · Planning Board
Thursday, March 19, 2026 at 7:00 pm

Regular meeting Appointments and personnelParks and recreationHousing and affordabilityLand conversion and large developmentRezoningZoning text amendment

Agenda document Full packet Minutes Meeting page Watch Meeting recap

What's on this agenda

The Planning Board's March meeting opens with two appointments -- a representative to the Board of Adjustment and a representative to the Parks and Recreation Board -- plus a closed session with the town attorney. The board picks back up its review of a rezoning and development agreement request for 715 US Hwy 70 East (PIN 9874-49-0155), an applicant-initiated case carried over from a previous meeting as old business.

The board will also discuss possible zoning district changes with its Unified Development Ordinance consultant, hear routine updates, and approve minutes from the January 15 regular meeting and the February 19 joint public hearing.

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 Hillsborough Planning Board recommended, 6-0, that the town board approve rezoning 13.44 acres at 715 US Highway 70 East from Assistive Living Neighborhood to Multifamily, along with a 10-year development agreement, for property owner KEPSC LLC. Attorney Robin Tatum represented the applicant. The board had already held a public hearing on the case in February, so staff and the applicant did not repeat their presentations; it chose to let two people who had signed up speak again before it deliberated.

Lynn Parker, president of the Corbinton Commons Homeowners Association, and fellow resident Bruce Chinery argued the 67 planned townhomes should instead be a 55-and-older community, the use once envisioned for the site, and raised concerns about traffic and a pedestrian bridge shared with their neighborhood. Board members Robert Iglesias and Carrie Winkler said 67 units were more manageable than the 200 to 300 once planned there, and Town Attorney Bob Hornik confirmed the development agreement requires the developer to repair, restore or rebuild the bridge and pay $40,000 into the town's affordable housing fund. The recommendation, staff's analysis and the public comment now go to the town board for a final decision.

The board also reappointed Robert Iglesias as its representative to the Board of Adjustment and temporarily reappointed Chair Hooper Schultz to the Parks and Recreation Board, planning to revisit that seat once two incoming members join. It met briefly in closed session with the town attorney and heard, with no vote, a consultant's proposal to consolidate Hillsborough's zoning districts and allow small corner stores in residential neighborhoods. In updates, the Parks and Recreation Board recommended approval of the Kings Highway Natural Area master plan, formerly called the Riverwalk master plan, and staff reported that Tiffney Marley had resigned from the Planning Board to pursue a PhD; Megan Kimball, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, was expected to fill the seat when the town board met the following Monday.

How the votes went

The agenda, both sets of minutes, the two board appointments, entering closed session, the rezoning recommendation and adjournment all passed 6-0. The zoning-district discussion with the UDO consultant drew no vote.

From the published minutes.

Who spoke

2 members of the public spoke.

  1. Lynn Parker, president of the Corbinton Commons Homeowners Association, said the pedestrian bridge to the development needs full reconstruction at the developer's expense, and that the site had once been marketed to her neighbors as a future 55-and-older community.
  2. Bruce Chinery, a Corbinton Commons resident, echoed Parker's concerns and said the property had been zoned for assisted living for two decades and should be developed as a 55-and-older community instead.

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 Hillsborough's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (12)

Procedural · 4Minutes approval · 2Appointment · 2Discussion item · 2Closed session · 1Staff or committee report · 1
  1. 1 Call to order, confirmation of quorum, and public charge
    Procedural
  2. 2 Agenda changes and approval
    Procedural
  3. 3.A Minutes from the Planning Board Regular Meeting on January 15, 2026
    Minutes approval
  4. 3.B Minutes from the Joint Public Hearing on February 19, 2026
    Minutes approval
  5. 4 Public comment period for matters not on the agenda
    Procedural
  6. 5.A Appointment of Board of Adjustment representative
    Appointment Appointments and personnel
    The board reappointed Robert Iglesias as its representative to the Board of Adjustment, decided in one motion with Item 5.B.
  7. 5.B Appointment of Parks and Recreation Board representative
    Appointment Appointments and personnelParks and recreation
    The board temporarily reappointed Chair Hooper Schultz as its representative to the Parks and Recreation Board, planning to revisit the seat once two incoming members join.
  8. 6 Closed session
    Closed session
    Closed session under NCGS 143-318.11(a)(3) to consult with the town attorney to preserve attorney-client privilege.
  9. 7.A Rezoning and development agreement requests for 715 US Hwy 70 East; PIN 9874-49-0155
    Discussion item Housing and affordabilityLand conversion and large developmentRezoning
    Applicant-initiated rezoning and development agreement request, continuing as old business from a prior meeting.
    • 715 US Hwy · no matching parcel on file
    • Pin 9874-49-0155 · Kepsc Hillsborough LLC · assessed $705,600
  10. 8.A Discussion of potential zoning district changes with UDO consultant
    Discussion item Zoning text amendment
    Consultants from Inspire Placemaking Collective outlined a plan to consolidate Hillsborough's zoning districts into four residential and four commercial categories and to allow small corner stores in residential districts. The board took no formal action; work on the Unified Development Ordinance rewrite continues.
  11. 9 Updates
    Staff or committee report Appointments and personnelParks and recreation
    The Board of Adjustment had not met since the board's last meeting. The Parks and Recreation Board recommended approval of the Kings Highway Natural Area master plan, formerly called the Riverwalk master plan. Staff reported that Planning Board member Tiffney Marley had resigned to pursue a PhD, and that Megan Kimball, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, was expected to fill the seat when the town board met the following Monday.
  12. 10 Adjournment
    Procedural

Other recent meetings of this board