The Wilson County Planning Board on the evening recommended approval of a preliminary plan to subdivide roughly 85 acres on Rock Ridge School Road into 71 lots, while adding safety and landscape conditions including left and right turn lanes and vegetated berms.

Planning staff told the board the property is in the county's AR (agricultural-residential) zoning district and meets the county's 2045 comprehensive land-use plan, noting a minimum lot size of 40,000 square feet, 100-foot road frontage, and setback standards. The staff recommendation said the subdivision is in the Neuse River Basin, lies within the county's public water supply watershed, and is not inside a special flood hazard or the voluntary agricultural district. Staff said the developer must secure stormwater approval and an erosion and sedimentation control permit from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), meet landscape rules in the Wilson County UDO (Article 9.2), and design roads to NCDOT standards.

“Staff recommends approval of the preliminary plan,” the planning staff said during the presentation.

Residents who live along Rock Ridge School Road urged the board to require turn lanes and other safety measures. Michael Price, a resident who said he lives “right at the top of the hill,” told the board he is concerned about large trucks and sight lines and asked the board to “consider just a turn lane.” Lane Hennett, another nearby resident, also asked the board to require a turn lane and raised concerns about road shoulders and runoff into her backyard.

Kevin Varnell of Stocks Engineering, who represents the applicant, told the board the developer would not clear all trees on the rear of lots and said he accepted installing a berm along the road front. Varnell also cited NCDOT’s threshold for turn-lane warrants, telling the board that, by DOT policy, a dedicated turn lane is typically triggered at about 4,000 vehicles per day and that Rock Ridge School Road’s counts (reported around 300 vehicles per day) are far below that threshold. “They certainly have reviewed this, looked at it, said it was low impact, and did not require or ask for a turn lane,” Varnell said.

The planning board’s motion recommends approval “based upon the plan's consistency with the 2045 comprehensive plan” but added conditions beyond staff’s proposal: installation of left- and right-turn lanes at the subdivision entrance for the first phase; a 20-foot-wide buffer and a 10-foot-wide base with a 5-foot-tall berm planted with suitable trees and undergrowth along Rock Ridge School Road lots; and a 20-foot buffer to adjoining open lots. The board voted in favor by voice; the board will forward the recommendation to the Wilson County Board of Commissioners, which will make the final decision at its Nov. 3 meeting.

Next steps: the developer must obtain required DEQ permits and NCDOT approvals, comply with Wilson County UDO landscaping requirements, and return to county staff for final plat processing before the commissioners consider the project.