The Board of Orange County Commissioners gave their feedback on the proposed Research Triangle Logistics Park on Tuesday, some of their first public comments on the project.
The commissioners shared thoughts on the potential 160-acre light-industrial complex envisioned by the Barrister Commercial Group. The initial proposal from the developers is to rezone land within a tract set aside by Orange County for economic development years ago.
In the first meeting following an extended public hearing process, which saw many residents voice concern about the proposal, the board took no specific voting action of approval or rejection. The period was largely used to discuss concerns held by the county commissioners, many of which have also been expressed by community members since the project application was submitted to the county’s planning board.
One item circled by the community was an entry and exit point from the land, which could eventually be home to warehouses and manufacturing space, to Davis Road. The residential road is one of the nearest entry points to NC Highway 86, a major thoroughfare expected to be used by the development to get tractor trailer trucks and workers to Interstate 40.
Several commissioners voiced these concerns at Tuesday’s meeting, saying the potential traffic Davis Road could see was a breaking point.
Chair of the Board Penny Rich spoke to this with 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck on Wednesday.
“That is something we hear over and over from folks who live in that neighborhood,” she described, “their concern about trucks being in that neighborhood.”
The applicants, however, said they now plan to use a North Carolina Department of Transportation service road on the north side of the property to directly access Highway 86 for trucks, commuters and worker vans. The developers said widening the road will be in order, but that will be the main access point with three entryways to the property.
“We wanted them to use the service road all along,” Rich said Wednesday, “and NCDOT was concerned about where the service road dumps out onto 86 and how it would interfere with highway traffic. But it seems as if they worked it out, which made most of the commissioners very happy.”
Developers said an entry point to the property will still exist on Davis Road, but it will only be for emergency vehicle access.
While addressing traffic concerns was one of the main discussion points of the RTLP application on Wednesday, there were several others the commissioners brought up that were not immediately fixed. Some commissioners expressed preferences for the maximum heights of the buildings directly off Davis Road different than those listed by the applicants. There were also disparities between commissioners’ desires for setbacks along the perimeter of the proposed RTLP property. While developers planned on a 50-foot buffer between the property line and any construction, as well as a 100-foot buffer between buildings, the commissioners said they seek a total 100-foot buffer between construction and the borders of other properties to the south and west.
Indications are, however, some commissioners could approve the project with these changes made. Commissioner Earl McKee voiced his own feelings during a discussion about building heights.
“There are very few things that I’m hard set on,” he said, “and you’ve addressed the main ones. So let’s see if we can’t work out a way that protects some neighbors, protects the environment and make this happen in a way that really benefits Orange County without impinging on anyone any more than necessary.”
The commissioners approved a motion to continue the agenda item later when their proposed changes have been worked into the plans. The county says the Research Triangle Logistics Park project will return to the board for consideration of approval at their October 20 meeting.
Photo via Kimley + Horn.
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