Stallings denies Meritage rezoning

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The Stallings Town Council on Monday voted unanimously to deny a rezoning request from Meritage Homes, which wanted to build 148 homes on 61 acres on Stevens Mill Road.
Meritage requested a change from residential with minimum lot sizes of 20,000 square feet to conditional residential zoning with minimum lot sizes of 10,000 square feet. Meritage had requested a conditional zoning that would allow for 54-foot lots instead of the required 80-foot lots and lot sizes of 5,600 square feet as opposed to the 10,000-square-foot lots the town required. In addition to the lot size, town officials were concerned about increased traffic from the proposed project, which would have been built in three “pods,” one on the north side of Stevens Mill Road and the other two, separated by North Fork Crooked Creek on the south side of Stevens Mill.
The town Planning Board in June voted 4-3 to recommend it not be approved, and the town planning staff had recommended denial.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the council approved Austin Properties’ rezoning request for construction of an 84-unit apartment complex for people aged 55 and older on Chestnut Lane. The request had been previously approved, but construction had not begun within the two-year vested-rights period.
The council also tabled until its Sept. 12 meeting a rezoning request from Ryan Homes for a 60-acre tract off Lawyers Road between Stevens Mill and Allen Black roads. Ryan Homes has proposed building 142 single-family homes and 49 townhomes on the property, which it wants annexed by Stallings and rezoned from R-20 in Union County to conditional mixed residential in Stallings. The planning staff had recommended it remain R-20.