Seven Lakes East
    The project nearest Seven Lakes — Seven Lakes East — is still in the earliest stages of development. MacRay Smith and Basil Babaa own more than 350 acres just east of Seven Lakes North. The bulk of the tract lies northeast of the intersection of Dowd Road and Carthage Road, with significant frontage along both roadways. They also own 20 acres on the northwest corner of that intersection and are attempting to purchase another 80 acres that runs along the west side of Dowd Road, lying between it and Seven Lakes North.
    Smith said he anticipates a development of 300 to 350 single-family homes on the property, a plan that, he indicated, could be forwarded under existing Moore County zoning and subdivision regulations without any need for variances or conditional use permits.
    Smith said he expects to request the rezoning of two 20-acre parcels that lie on the northeast and northwest corners of Dowd and Carthage Roads, so that they could be reserved for future commercial use, likely for small retail or office centers. He suggested that the VB-Village Business zoning that applies to the existing Seven Lakes Business Village would be appropriate for those parcels.
    Ideally, Seven Lakes East would establish an amenity-sharing agreeement with the existing Seven Lakes Communities, Smith said, noting that he and BaBaa had met with Seven Lakes Landowners Association President Don Truesdell and Community Manager Dalton Fulcher to explore ways in which the communities could work together.
    Noting the existing agreement that allows members of the Seven Lakes and Seven Lakes West Landowners Associations to use the amenities of both communities, Smith said he envisions creating amenities in "Seven Lakes East" that the other communities lack, and then working out an amenity-sharing arrangement. He added that any golfers among the residents of Seven Lakes East could help boost membership at Seven Lakes and Beacon Ridge Country Clubs.
    Smith described the planned development as an upscale, gated community in keeping with Seven Lakes North, South, and West. He said he is considering architectural design standards that would make Seven Lakes East a "masonry community," whose homes would be finished with brick, stone, stucco, and Hardi-Plank but no vinyl.
    The parcel that Smith and Babaa are developing includes a significant amount of wetlands, which means homes will naturally cluster in several small pods. As a result, he said he expects two entrances on Carthage Road and two on Dowd Road. Smith said he would expect the development to draw on the Moore County water system and use septic systems for wastewater.
    Smith and Babaa have assembled several other smaller tracts in Area A that they hope to develop, including approximately 100 acres further east on Carthage Road, near its intersection with Thomas Place, a tract to the west of Harris Crossroads, and another in the back of Wild Oak Estates. There are apparently no firm plans for the development of these tracts at present.

• Southwick & Northmoor

    Seven Lakes North resident Bill Beardslee participated in the meeting by speakerphone and described a 135 acre development he is planning for an irregularly shaped tract that lies on either side of Holly Grove School Road, north of Seven Lakes North.
    Beardslees' plans are to develop the tract into two separate communities on either side of Holly Grove School Road, with 175 homes on the south side and 145 homes on the north side. Both communities would include a mix of single-family homes, townhouses, and one-floor townhouses. The community to the south of the road, nearest Seven Lakes, would be an age-restricted community targeted at adults age 55 an older. The community to the north of the road would be open to all ages, priced at an entry level, and targeted to young families.
    Beardslees said Seven Lakes North offers housing priced in the moderate to upper range, but the area has a shortage of entry-level housing affordable for blue-collar workers and others at moderate income levels. In addition, there is a shortage of options for older residents who would like to downsize. Beardslee said that he had been involved in a similar project in a rural New Jersey County very similar to Moore County.
    Neither of the communities would be gated, Beardslees said. The area that adjoins Seven Lakes North would be developed in single-family homes rather than condos.
    Both sides would include recreation areas, including an extensive set of walking trails on both sides, as well as a clubhouse, swimming poll, and tennis courts. The non-aged restricted side would include a playground for children.
    The project would include major buffering and major setbacks, Beardslee said. It would cover less that 20% of the total land mass with impervious surface and involve disturbance of less than 50% of the soil overall.
    Because the property will set near the end of the Moore County water system supplying Seven Lakes, there could be water-pressure problems. So the developer is planning to include a water tower, which could be turned over to the county.
    The community would have its own on-site wastewater-treatment facility, utilizing a system that produces an effluent clean enough to be used for irrigation — which in turn could cut back on the use of county water for irrigation purposes. The plant would be maintained by the homeowners association, Beardslee said, noting that, in New Jersey, it would have to be turned over to the county.
    He said he was still working with county planners to determine the best manner in which to approach the zoning of the property, which may need to be submitted under the Planned Unit Development [PUD] sections of the ordinance — which would give the county considerable input into the details of the development plan.
    
Brenner Property
    In terms of acreage, both the Smith and Beardslee projects are dwarfed by two projects that were presented by developer Robert Hanson, one of which will cover nearly 1,100 acres and the other, nearly 1,700.
    The smaller of these, which Hanson called the "Brenner" property — the name of a former owner of the land — lies north of NC Highway 73 and east of Beulah Hill Church Road. County zoning would permit as many as 1,000 homes on the property, Hanson said, but his company plans an upscale golf course community of 248 units.
    The 18-hole golf course will consume 360 acres, Hanson told the planning staff, which is about 100 acres more than is actually needed to build a course. The extra acreage will allow the course architect to avoid wetlands on the property, he explained.
    Current plans call for 130 large building lots for single family homes with the balance of the homes in clustered golf cottages. Even those cottages will have lots of nearly one acre; the large building lots will be roughly five acres. Fifty-five to sixty percent of the acreage will be left in open space, with the golf course included in that total.
    Hanson said the community would enforce very strict architectural standards, including placing a size limit on homes. "There will be no McMansions," Hanson said, noting that home size would be capped at 7,000 square feet.
    New Haven, CT, based architect Mark Finely will design the clubhouse, entryway, and other features, using the architectural of the Reynolda House at Reynolds Plantation as a departure point.
    Hanson said the property as a whole is not heavily treed, and a portion was sown in Bermuda hay and used as a parking lot when the US Open was played at Pinehurst. However, there is a substantial treed buffer along both NC 73 and Beulah Hill Church Road, and these will be left in place.
    When the development opens, it will add $70 million to the county's assessed property values, Hanson said. At full build out, it could add $320-$350 million.
    Impact on the Moore County School system should be modest, he said, as these sorts of properties attract "pre-boomers and boomers" — grandparents, rather than parents.
    Hanson has already been working with Moore County Public Utilities on plans to bring water — and, possibly, even sewer — to the property. County plans for the East Moore Water District will bring county water to NC 15/501, and Hanson is apparently willing to pay to upsize that line and bring it to the Brenner property. The county is planning a six-inch water line and Hanson's development would need an eight-inch line, he said. But his discussions with the county have focused on upsizing to twelve or even sixteen inches to serve other anticipated growth in the area. The East Moore Water District is supplied with treated water purchased from Harnett County.
    The property already has two small springfed ponds that will provide ample irrigation water for the golf course, Hanson said. A historic mill and other historic buildings on the property will be preserved if possible.
    Though Homes built on the Brenner tract will initially be furnished with septic systems, Hanson said he hopes that his company may ultimately be able to connect the community with the County's wastewater treatment system. Unlike Beardslee, Hanson said he would prefer not to do a private wastewater treatment plant.
    Hanson cautioned the planning staff and others at the meeting that, while there is a lot of development on the table for Area A, it will take quite some time for that development to be built out. Using another Moore County development — Forest Creek — as an example, Hanson said that community was started in 1996 and has thus far sold 28 homes and 61 cottages. "Development on these projects does not go fast," he said, adding that he expected it would take twelve years in a good economy to sell sixty to seventy percent of the units in the Brenner tract community.
    The development his company is proposing for the Brenner tract is all doable within existing county zoning and subdivision regulations, Hanson said. No variances or rezonings would be necessary.
    
Monroe/Johnson Property
    Though he apparently plans to develop the Brenner property first, the larger project on Hanson's plate is nearly 1700 acres that wraps around West Pine Middle School and extends north of NC Highway 211 to, at one spot, touch NC Highway 73.
    The property was assembled from several smaller parcels including acreage purchased from the Ann and John Monroe and the Billy Johnson families. Most is zoned either RA-5 or RA-20; Hanson said the tract could be developed to hold as many as 1,380 homes.
    However, his company is proposing a PUD that would include two golf courses and a variety of housing types that would result in an overall density of one unit per ever 2.4 acres. Development would be denser near Highway 211 and more open in the rear of the tract.
    Fifty-five to sixty percent of the property will be preserved as open space, Hanson said. And buffering will be sufficient that traffic traveling on NC 211 will see very little change in the current appearance of the tract.
    A portion of the Johnson Property along NC Highway 211 is zoned B-2, probably for retail. The 55 mile per hour speed limits along 211 at that spot is less than ideal for retail, Hanson said. Instead, if some neighborhood retail is desirable in the PUD, he suggested a 16 acre parcel near Mary Road could be reserved for that use.
    Hanson said he would plan to tap into county water, relying on either the water currently being carried down NC Highway 211 to Seven Lakes, or East Moore Water from the Brenner Property development discussed earlier. This property is close to a planned extension of the county wastewater treatment system, and Hanson's company is interested in extending that line to potentially serve both its developments.
    Hanson said no decision had been reached, thus far, about whether portions of the community will be gated.
    In response to a question from the staff about affordable housing, Hanson said the Monroe-Johnson property includes a 240-acre parcel that could readily be used for that purpose.