ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. — A Rockingham County group wants a zoning decision reversed. Camp Carefree, a camp for children with special needs is worried about nearby land that was rezoned. About 10 claims are listed throughout a recently filed 24-page lawsuit.
Here are a few of the claims broken down.
Back in August, nearly 200 acres along US Highway 220 were rezoned from residential agricultural to highway commercial. This move upset many people including Camp Carefree.
NC Development Holdings LLC submitted the request to rezone back in June.
Part of the lawsuit challenges an amendment made to governing documents.
Brian Gulden is the attorney representing the plaintiffs. He said this change opens the door for the land to get developed for various uses.
"When you have this text amendment that says all uses that are permitted or licensed by the state shall be allowed by right in this commercial district, it increased the number of uses, like by tenfold," explained Attorney Gulden.
The lawsuit also challenges the move to rezone. Plaintiffs argue the board did not follow procedure.
They claim it all started with the applicant, NC Development, who they said did the procedure wrong.
"There are some egregious miss-steps I believe when you look at the, starting with the application and then the notice, the application not being complete, their own UDO requires certain things to be contained in the application. They're just not there," said Attorney Gulden.
Rockingham County Commissioner Kevin Berger sent us the following statement Thursday morning.
“The property sits along future Interstate 73, a four-lane divided highway. This area has been earmarked as a future growth area for a couple of decades. The request by the property owner was to rezone the property to Highway Commercial and the request was granted,” Berger wrote.
Wednesday, a county spokesperson said they will not comment on the lawsuit as the investigation is ongoing.
We last heard from the county back in August when the rezoning decision was made. A commissioner said the area has been intended for business development for more than 20 years.