GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — The future of Summerfield has been up in the air ever since the state de-annexed it from the town.
Guilford County took a step toward addressing that Wednesday night.
WFMY News 2's Nixon Norman listened as leaders figured out what to do next.
Rezoning a piece of land isn't an easy task. Especially when it involves nearly a thousand acres of land.
The Guilford County Planning Board was in charge of zoning several lots, or parcels in the recently de-annexed land of Summerfield.
The board is attempting to determine what can be built on the land owned by David Couch.
While they zoned all the lots that are currently zoned for residential and agricultural the same. They were not comfortable with zoning lots that had to do with business.
With the business zoning requirements in Summerfield oftentimes being more restrictive, the planning board felt they could not zone lots meant for business in Summerfield under Guilford County standards.
"Some of the GB [general business] zoning is just a little bit too broad and it can allow just about anything to come into those areas. I would welcome to see a development proposal for individual parcels [or lots] and we can discuss them on an individual basis but at this time. I think that GB zoning is simply too broad for a select number of those parcels," Guilford County Planning Board Member, Cara Buchanan said.
Community members spoke out both against the zoning and in favor of it.
If you remember, David Couch is the developer who plans to build housing and commercial property on the de-annexed land.
To be clear, the planning board's decision had nothing to do with Couch's proposed development, as he will have to file separately to rezone land for those purposes.
"This proposed zoning is not based in anyway on any submitted development plans. Guilford County staff has not received any commercial site plans or subdivision plans," said a planner with the Guilford County Planning Board, Aaron Calloway said.
The planning board said they may discuss the lots they did not zone on Wednesday, September 11.
It was said that before they can make any decisions on what businesses can go where, they need more conditions.
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