Southern Pines planning staff outlined proposed changes to the housing development process during a public meeting Thursday evening. The presentation provided a framework that would encourage more attainable housing, including duplexes and townhomes, while maintaining neighborhood character.
The Housing Text Amendment package, presented by Planning Director BJ Grieve and Planner II James Broadwell at the Douglass Community Center, proposes new “Minor-2” and “Minor-3” subdivision options. This streamlined process is designed to create more flexibility for smaller-scale residential projects that fall between traditional single-family houses and large apartment complexes.
Townhomes built under the new standards would be limited to a 1,000-square-foot footprint and capped at 2,000 square feet of heated area. The minimum lot size of the parent tract is “reduced by 50% of the underlying zoning standards, or to 1,500 square feet, whichever is larger.”…