Nearly three hours before a vote to deny or approve the rezoning of land for a large housing development in Pembroke, residents learned the developer, James Dasher of Fetzer Lakes LLC, withdrew his application.
“We just didn’t feel like council was ready to move forward with a project of this magnitude,” said Dasher.
Mayor Tiffany Zeigler made the announcement of the withdrawal at the city council meeting Monday. According to Zeigler, Dasher had not specified why the application was withdrawn. City Manager Chris Benson thinks the developer will have to wait six months before reapplying.
Many were in attendance at the Pembroke City Council meeting Monday night to condemn the proposed development. The project would have seen hundreds of homes built near Wildwood Church Road.
When asked if he will submit another application in the future, Dasher said, “If Pembroke is ready for a planned development in six months, we would love to apply.”
Dasher said he mulled over the decision and waited until late that afternoon to pull out. According to Dasher, he met with city staff members for a year and suspects they did not want to move forward after receiving backlash from the community.