Forestar rezoning application

[Keith Houck]

Dear Commissioners,

Unfortunately I will not be available to attend the BoC meeting on Oct 7. I would like to briefly summarize my opposition to the rezoning request from R-1 to R-CD for the Rigsbee property along Hwy 54. I believe it is not consistent with the Comprehensive Plan due to the density of development in an important ecological area. The streams and wetlands adjacent to the site should be protected from further degradation to preserve the health of the wildlife in the area and from further degradation of the quality of the Haw River, already on life-support to prevent death from a thousand cuts. At best, the proposed dense use of septic fields will contribute to adverse cumulative ecological impacts from increased nitrate input and potential other chemical contamination. In addition, the site is part of a large forested area bounded by major roadways and serves as a wildlife habitat for a range of species, including deer, bobcat, turkey, coyote, fox, opossums, and raccoons.There is also great bird diversity, including many owls, hawks, and great blue herons. Many of these species will see their ranges disrupted if the property is developed at this density and likely not find new homes.

I attended the community meeting concerning this proposal and was not reasssured this would be an environmentally friendly development. In particular, Forestar has a mixed development history and I asked for examples of where they had done a similar project. All I received were pictures of a dense, virtually treeless development on former farm fields, not anything like this location. I have little confidence that this development will match the presenters' words from that meeting.

Please deny Forestar Real Estate Group's rezoning application.

Thank you for considering my comments,

Sincerely,

Keith Houck

9622 Collins Creek Dr

Chapel Hill, NC

[Jamezetta Bedford]

Mr. Houck,

On behalf of the Board, you know by now that the rezoning was approved 5:2 with Commissioners McKee and Hamilton dissenting. I did not have time to read your email prior to the 7:00 meeting, but hopefully others did. 

Sincerely,

Jamezetta Bedford, Chair

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From: Keith Houck <keith...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 7, 2025 3:06 PM
To: ALL_BOCC_MANAGER_CLERK <OCB...@orangecountync.gov>
Subject: Forestar rezoning application

 

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