Developer David Couch is asking Greensboro to annex nearly 900 acres and approve zoning for his rolling woodlands and pastures that would bring higher-density residential and commercial development to northwestern Guilford County.
The annexation would be the largest in the city’s history, according to lawyer Tom Terrell, who represents Couch. The county took jurisdiction of the property last year after state lawmakers de-annexed the land from the town of Summerfield. For a decade, Couch failed to convince the council of the Town Council to amend its zoning regulations to accommodate his plans for higher density housing, including its first apartments.
The council budged, but not far enough to satisfy Couch, the CEO of High Point-based Blue Ridge Cos. With support of N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger, the de-annexation took effect last summer. Earlier this year, Greensboro City Council approved the developer’s requests for the annexation and zoning of nearly 80 acres for the first of 11 neighborhoods he plans in the Villages of Summerfield Farms.
What’s left to be annexed and placed under original zoning by the city is 898 acres, with 755 acres contiguous with Greensboro and another 143 acres consisting of “non-contiguous satellite tracts,’’ according to Terrell.
For years, Summerfield elected officials and homeowners warned of apartment and townhouse dwellers, who would bring more crime, traffic and classroom overcrowding.
In contrast, Greensboro council members praised Couch’s plans for a range of housing types and prices. They cited the need for more housing costing less than the typical northwest Guilford house and its acre lot. In the second quarter, the average price for a house in Summerfield and adjacent Oak Ridge topped $700,000 for the first time, according to the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association.
Increasingly citing the need for housing, the council has generally favored rezoning requests in recent years. Greensboro’s planning staff is reviewing Couch’s applications and plans to issue reports Aug. 8 advising the council and planning and zoning commission, according to city spokeswoman Carla Banks.
Couch’s property is less than a 15-minute drive from Greensboro’s Piedmont Triad International Airport. That’s where California-based JetZero said last month it expects to employ more than 14,500 people over the next decade assembling next-generation planes. The biggest job commitment in North Carolina’s history builds upon Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina in Liberty, where at least 1,200 people have been hired with eventual plans for 5,100. Boom Supersonic and Marshall USA are preparing to commence operations at PTI, eventually employing more than 2,000 people.
The Greensboro Realtors’ group has projected the county needs more than 32,000 new housing units over the next five years. That number “has only grown with the recent JetZero announcement,’’ Couch spokesman Pat Ryan said in a recent email. “Any growing region needs to build housing to accommodate that growth.’’
In recent letters to property owners in the vicinity of Couch’s property, Terrell explained the developer has petitioned Greensboro to annex his land and zone it for planned unit development. That would allow for a “combination of residential and commercial uses’’ making up the main portion of the developer’s project. A unified development planned negotiated with city staff would dictate setbacks, landscaping and allowed uses.
“The Villages of Summerfield Farms is the largest annexation in the city’s history, and likely the most complex,’’ Terrell said. He projected the build out will occur over 20 to 30 years.
Aside from housing interspersed with commercial development in the individual villages, Couch is proposing a concentration of businesses, including a grocery store, health care and lodging, in a mixed-used development called Saunders Village. Its adjacency to Interstate 73 would tap demand by motorists, as well as residents living in the area.
Couch is hosting informational meetings for property owners next week, ahead of the Greensboro Planning and Zoning Commission’s review of the annexation and zoning applications Aug. 18. The City Council plans to consider the requests during its Sept. 16 meeting.
