Planning board member Lawrence White made the motion to deny the request, saying he did not believe the proposal was in harmony with the original concept of the development and that he also believed it could be spot zoning in relation to the initial plans.

Charles Landen cast the second. Landen, Sherry Hux, Henry Ford and Terry Campbell sided with White on the matter.

While the planning board denied the request, it still goes before Roanoke Rapids City Council, Planning and Development Director Kelly Lasky said this evening. Council will take the matter up at its January 6 meeting at the Lloyd Andrews City Meeting Hall at 5:15 p.m.

Mark Gregory, developer of the project, said following the meeting he would be moving forward with taking the plans to city council. He said he believed the planning board is incorrect in their belief the project constituted spot zoning since plans originally approved for the development included mixed uses.

Planning Board Chairman Gregory Browning said he did not believe the proposal was spot zoning. “We need to have something for everybody,” he said during discussion following the motion. “They designed it to put in a little bit of everything.”

Donald Vincent, who lives in a house at Villages at Cross Creek, was the primary person to speak against the proposal, which is planned to occupy 20 acres of land behind Roanoke Rapids Fire Station II off Highway 125.

Vincent said he believed there would be major traffic concerns with the development and believed it would affect the value of residential homes in the community. “With the increase in population, we don't have a police substation in there and the fire department would need another ladder truck.”

Vincent also contended the conditional use request was a form of spot zoning.

Lasky, however, addressing a question by planning board member Robert Moore Jr., said the planned unit development concept allowed different uses.

Marilyn Hale, another resident of the development, asked planning board members, “How would you feel if it was in your back yard.”

Ella Ross, another resident, said she believed there were health and safety concerns that needed to be addressed, especially in adding to the traffic on Highway 125.

Bill Dreitzler, a civil engineer, said, however, it was unlikely the traffic impact would even reach the 2005 traffic projections.

Gregory said MaSuki Incorporated, which submitted the conditional use permit application to amend the original planned unit development map, said appraisals have been done to show the affect on property values is negligible.

He said the multi-family apartment development would be market value, not subsidized units and a market study was done showing the need for such a development in the city.

Rent is expected to be between $800 to $850 for two-bedroom apartments and between $950 to $1,000 for three-bedroom units.

Renters, he said, would be a mix of young professionals and retired couples who don't want the headache of lawn maintenance and other concerns that come with home ownership.

Plans for the development include a 3,200 square-foot clubhouse; swimming pool; picnic area; playground; dog park; sidewalks and private garage storage with direct access to Highway 125.

Gregory said the company, which has done other projects in North Carolina, doesn't have any low-income housing. “We're not going to build something in the other direction.”

That the conditional use permit came in as an amendment to the planned unit development was because the initial request was processed as a standard or conventional rezoning. “Staff determined that if the zoning districts of the Villages at Cross Creek had been approved as standard zoning districts, then the legislative rezoning process would have been appropriate. However, the standard rezoning process did not apply to the property given the approved conditional use permit for the Villages at Cross Creek planned unit development zoning map,” Lasky wrote in a memo to the planning board.