A design showing the plans for the Old Glory housing project.

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By Jim Buice

For the Clemmons Courier

After asking for a continuance to get more information involving a 77-unit townhome project just off busy Lewisville-Clemmons Road and bordering the massive Meadowbrook neighborhood with its network of lakes and stormwater concerns, the Clemmons Village Council got positive answers in Monday night’s meeting and voted to approve the property on nearly 14 acres at 2590 Old Glory Road.

The final vote was 4-1 with council member Michelle Barson opposed to the Zoning Map Amendment for Nova Triad Partners for real property owned by William Anthony Smith et. Al. from RS-15 (Residential, Single-Family) to RM-8-S (Residential, Multifamily – Special) for the property, which is approximately 1,000 feet west of the intersection of Old Glory Road and Lewisville-Clemmons Road.

The project was met by resistance from Meadowbrook residents, citing stormwater and traffic issues, in a public hearing that was held in the June 9 council meeting over the proposed Hidden Oaks subdivision featuring 3-bedroom, 2 1⁄2-bath homes in groups of two to three selling for $425,000 to $450,000.

Mayor Mike Rogers said that public hearing was previously closed in that meeting, leading to council discussion and the vote in Monday night’s meeting.

Council member Mike Combest gave a statement on the proposed development and a recommendation, saying: “The bottom line of objective analysis is that the very valid runoff and stormwater concerns of the Meadowbrook residents are better addressed by developing the Old Glory site as proposed by the petitioner than having the property developed as it is currently zoned.”

He then gave details of basic analysis showing that, counterintuitively, developing the site as individual homes at the currently zoned density will generate far more impervious surface, and thereby stormwater, than the previous townhome development.

Combest then offered slides of “some key instructive numbers” with the first one showing that “developing the Old Glory site as RS-15 individual homes will generate about 84,000 square feet more impervious surface than the proposed townhome development. This is the high-end possibility, but the smallest possible difference is 71,000 square feet more.”

He then pivoted to another slide showing “one correlation graph and two correlation matrices from government, commercial and academic sites which show, independently, that townhome development like the one proposed, as a general rule, generate substantially less runoff than individual home developments of RS-15 and similar density.”

Combest also added he wanted to thank the president and vice president of the Meadowbrook Voluntary Homeowners Association for their time and willingness “to critically and skeptically review and assess the calculations and analysis that compare the projected amount of impervious surface generated by the Old Glory townhome project and a development of RS-15 density individual houses, which is what the site is currently zoned for.”

Following Combest’s comments, no one else spoke before Rogers asked for a motion and ultimate approval.

In the previous June meeting, Barson spoke on safety concerns, including Lewisville-Clemmons Road getting the necessary improvements, saying it would be “extremely irresponsible” to allow this development at this time.

“I also don’t think it is consistent with our vision for the future of Clemmons,” she said that night. “That area is supposed to be transitional from Meadowbrook. This is not transition. This is a leap. I think where it’s at, RS-15, is very reasonable. I would even be willing to rezone it a little bit more densely than that but not to RS-8.”

Combest added that “a very serious traffic issue” needed to be addressed, and council member Bradley Taylor said that he wanted more information on the timeline for Lewisville-Clemmons Road improvements.

Andy Dreyfuss, representing Nova Triad Homes and the Hidden Oaks subdivision project, said then that he heard the concerns around traffic and getting more information from NCDOT.

Although it wasn’t mentioned in Monday night’s meeting, the agenda packet included correspondence sent by Dreyfuss to the mayor and council members last week on a meeting he and engineer Jay Clapp had with NCDOT Division 9 engineers Connie James and Kevin Hedrick regarding Lewisville-Clemmons Road in late June, giving some of the pertinent details from the conversation:

• Initially, when the improvement project was announced, NCDOT had proposed constructing medians along the entire length of Lewisville-Clemmons Road from U.S. 158 North to Peace Haven Road, but due to considerable feedback from Clemmons residents, business owners and village officials, NCDOT elected to implement a compromise solution of limited medians.
• The revised plan called for medians only in sections of Lewisville-Clemmons Road that had experienced a very high rate of traffic accidents in the prior five years, and that based on the traffic crash data, three specific areas stood out that clearly needed medians: U.S. 158/Lewisville-Clemmons Road intersection, Cephis Drive to I-40 and the Peace Haven Road/ Lewisville-Clemmons Road intersection.
• Specifically, the section of Lewisville-Clemmons Road between Cephis Drive and I-40 experienced a crash rate approximately 2.7 times higher than the state average for similar roads. The section of Lewisville-Clemmons Road between I-40 and Peace Haven Road experienced a crash rate approximately 1.7 times higher than the state average.
• The section of Lewisville-Clemmons Road between Cephis Drive and Stoney Drive had very few accidents. Therefore, NCDOT elected not to include a median at the intersection of Old Glory Road and Lewisville-Clemmons Road, adding that intersection clearly failed to meet the guidelines utilized by NCDOT’s warrant calculation.

The key factors used to determine the need for a traffic signal are volume of traffic, crash history, pedestrian safety and geometric characteristics.

In another business item in Monday night’s meeting, the council voted to go with the staff’s recommendation to accept a contract bid of $1,983,932 from Davie Construction Co. for the Village Point Operations Center.

Village Manager Mike Gunnell said that this building is the first step in the process of developing the property that the town purchased at Village Point Lake. It will provide an office for the Clemmons deputies through the Sheriff’s Office and some village staff, along with providing parking and public restrooms for events.

“It’s part of the overall plan, which we are currently working on and receiving public input,” Gunnell said. “We do have funding for this project.”

When asked for a timeline, Gunnell said he would project sometime next spring.

In other highlights from Monday night’s meeting, the council:

• Heard from Rogers regarding a proclamation for the 2025 Smiley Triathlon Festival scheduled July 26-27 “to continue the mission and legacy of Richard Smiley, who was a leader in character and believed in the power of community.” Rogers said that the Smiley Kids for Kids Triathlon is in its 22nd year, is nationally acclaimed and is now ranked the No. 1 Youth Triathlon in the U.S. by Triathlete Magazine.
• Heard from planner Doug Moore that the village is a 2025 Community Challenge Grant recipient and has received $20,850 in funding, which will be used for lighting at crosswalks on Stadium Drive at the library and on Bingham Drive near Clemmons Elementary School.
• Heard from Rogers in recognizing planners Moore and Caroline Drake along with council member Taylor, who is part of the Vision Zero Task Force, for being the recipient of the 2025 “Teammate Makes the Dream Work” Vision Zero Safety Award at the N.C. Vision Zero Institute in Chapel Hill.