BY STACY LETT CAIN

After gaining some concessions from developers, the Statesville City Council members voted Monday to approve the first reading of a rezoning request for the former Stamey Ridge development, now known as Briarwood.

This rezoning request, first heard at the May 6 council meeting, was initially rejected by council by a 7-1 vote. Council members cited affordability and infrastructure concerns as the reasons for opposing the project.

But the developer, Prestige Homes, circled back and tried to meet the council in the middle. The council held a special meeting in late May and voted to reconsider the project.

“The developer has made a series of concessions to try to meet the concerns that have been voiced about this development, and this is what they have come up with,” Planning Director Sherry Ashley explained during Monday’s meeting.

Some lots have been removed from the site plan, dropping the density of the proposed 200-acre development to 2.49 units per acre from the original 2.61. The development calls for 500 units, which is 50 fewer than the original plan.

The property, located along Interstate 40 between Gilbert Road and Westminster Drive, does pose some concern for fire protection due to the fact that it lies outside of the Statesville Fire Department’s four-minute response time window.

That issue will be remedied by contracting with the Monticello Volunteer Fire Department to ensure coverage within that four-minute window.

Council member Kim Wasson asked if such an arrangement was common.

“In situations where we see annexation, yes, there are areas where we contract with nearby volunteer departments who are able to respond within the four minute time frame,” Fire Chief Glenn Kurfees explained. “The city would still respond, but we would not be there within the time frame we require.”

Despite the concessions made by the developer, not every council member was persuaded to think this development is what the City of Statesville needs.

“We are allowed to use the information we know about the character of the area to consider this issue. R8-CZ is not anywhere close to the character of this area,” Council member Steve Johnson said. “I was prepared to consider it at an R-8 or R-10 with a lesser required density but even with that the schools are still an issue. South Iredell (High School) is at capacity and the school board is likely to be forced to move attendance lines and move students from South Iredell to West Iredell (High School) and the vacancies we were told exist are all of a sudden gone. I don’t believe this is in the best interest of this area and I can’t support it. We shouldn’t be putting a development with that density in it out in that county community.”

The council voted 5 to 3 to approve the request with Steve Johnson, C.O. Johnson and Amy Lawton voting against it.

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business:

♦ The council unanimously approved the 2024-25 Fiscal Year Budget, which was presented at the last scheduled meeting, presented to the public and posted online. 

The $178.4 million budget maintains the property tax rate at 51.76 cents per $100 valuation. The spending plan includes a 7 percent increase in water and sewer rates

Capital expenses include nine police vehicles, garage service truck, automated garbage truck, two leaf collection vehicles, a single-axle dump truck, building Inspections vehicles and Kimbrough Park improvements.

♦ The council voted to modify its meeting calendar. Pre-Agenda meetings will be on the Thursday preceding the meeting at 4 p.m. except when the Thursday is a holiday. Then the pre-agenda meeting will be held at 5 p.m. on the night of the meeting. In addition, the starting times of regular city council meetings will be changing to 6 p.m. These changes will take affect with the July 15 meeting.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article and the headline incorrectly reported that the Briarwood development had 450 residential units.