ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Well-known developer Roy Carroll has set his sights on Rockingham County, unveiling plans to rezone over 135 acres across two residential sites in the area.
The proposed shift from residential to highway commercial and light industrial zones has stirred local attention, particularly at a site along Carlton Road.
“I don’t think anyone is saying ‘no’ to absolutely everything,” said Stoney Medlin, a resident along Ogburn Mill Road. “Just tell us what you’re looking for. What is Mr. Carroll’s vision? Just rezoning the land right now is not good enough … We need to know. What do you need to see there?”
Carroll’s company Carrolland recently acquired nearly 35 acres of residential agricultural land along Ogburn Mill Road, aiming to change it to light industrial. Medlin expressed a preference for such developments along the 220 corridor rather than within residential zones.”
“The change to light industrial … I would question it before I would put a company here … If I’m going to have a lot of tractor-trailer traffic bringing in supplies and whatnot, I don’t know if I would want to be this far off the highway,” Medlin said/
Just over three miles away on Carlton Road, Carrollwood aims to rezone over 100 acres from Residential Protected to Highway Commercial. This property is in close proximity to land associated with a controversial potential casino development.
The Carroll Companies conveyed their excitement about developing along the Highway 220 corridor in the following statement.
Both the County and the State have made wise infrastructure improvements to the corridor along US Highway 220 in this area to encourage economic development. These investments, along with investments from private companies like The Carroll Companies, have resulted in the creation of hundreds of jobs and projected growth to the Rockingham County tax base in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
–Carroll Companies
“When you are talking about someone who has that much pull, they just keep coming back, and people get tired,” said BJ Rierson, who faced recent rezoning battles tied to the controversial casino development.
The planning board is set to review Carrollwood’s reworked application on Dec. 11 with any decision subject to potential overruling by county commissioners.
Despite the planning board initially refraining from recommending either site, Carroll Companies said commissioners “will see the value of these investments when they consider these zoning requests.”
“County commissioners can listen to them or not listen to them, and my thoughts are that the chances are greater that they don’t listen to the planning board,” Rierson said.
County Commissioners are currently set to hear this rezoning on Jan. 15.
