Holly Springs council weighs handing subdivision approvals to staff

Holly Springs could stop holding council hearings on subdivision and development plans and let town staff approve them instead. The Town Council will see the draft rule change at a workshop Tuesday.

Updated Nov. 12: the town says staff showed the final festival street design at the workshop, with a community green on the Town Hall Annex site; what it includes. The town has not yet posted the outcome on the subdivision approval change or the lobbyist.

Staff will ask the council to schedule a public hearing on it, according to the workshop agenda. The council takes no final vote Tuesday.

The workshop starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in the McNeil Room at the town’s Operations Center, and is livestreamed. It has four items:

• moving subdivision and development plan approvals to staff (30 minutes)
• a revised festival street design for Avent Ferry Road (45 minutes)
• whether to hire a federal lobbyist to chase wastewater money (30 minutes)
• planning the council’s Feb. 4-6, 2027, retreat (45 minutes)

Subdivision and development plans: from hearings to staff review

Today the council decides subdivision and development plans in quasi-judicial hearings. At those hearings the council can weigh only factual testimony, and it must approve a plan that meets the town’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). The Chandler Crossing apartments went through that process Oct. 20.

The council told staff at its June 9 workshop to draft a change, the approved minutes of that meeting show. Under the draft, Development Services Director Chris Hills said:

• The council keeps: rezonings, conditional rezonings, the Comprehensive Plan and changes to the UDO text.
• Staff approve: major and minor subdivisions and development plans.
• Time saved: approval after a rezoning would take three to six months instead of six to 12, Hills said.

Hills said residents and developers alike were frustrated by how long the process takes and how little residents can influence it. He said peer towns already approve these plans administratively, “leaving Holly Springs as an outlier,” as the minutes record it. State law allows either route.

Not everyone was sold in June. Mayor Pro Tem Annie Drees said she was concerned residents would lose chances to speak and that plans would no longer go to the Planning Board. She called that troubling, the minutes say. Council member Chris Deshazor asked that the rule name the town’s Development Review Committee, not just “staff,” as the approving body. The council reached consensus to go ahead with drafting.

The Nov. 10 agenda says the draft would make the change “while also ensuring resident participation in the review process.” Staff will also present other proposed fall UDO amendments. The agenda does not list them.

Festival street: one refined design

At a Sept. 30 workshop the town showed the council three concept designs for a festival street on Avent Ferry Road, a downtown street that can close for events. Residents have weighed in twice since: an open house Oct. 14 and an online survey that runs through November.

On Tuesday staff and the consultant, Bolton & Menk, will show one refined concept built from that feedback. The final plan is due at the council’s 2027 retreat, the agenda says.

A federal lobbyist for sewer capacity

The town wants federal money to expand wastewater treatment beyond 8 million gallons a day. A federal advocacy firm hired by town management found the Water Resources Development Act, run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was the town’s best chance.

That route takes several years, needs Congress to authorize and fund the project, and would “likely be enhanced” by a specialized federal lobbyist, the agenda says. The council will tell the mayor, the town manager and the town attorney whether to start looking for one. The agenda gives no cost.

What it means for you

• Watch it: the workshop is livestreamed at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Workshops carry no public comment period on this agenda.
• Have your say later: if the council agrees Tuesday, the subdivision approval change goes to a public hearing first. We will post the date when the town sets it.
• Festival street: the town’s survey is open through November.
• Following a project near you? Our building permits and zoning page explains how Holly Springs approves new development today.