Key Takeaways:
Fewer Homes Planned: The revised Sandhills Station plan reduces the proposed number of homes from 340 to 280.
Changes to Commercial Plans: The plan removes multifamily housing, townhomes, and separate office and institutional parcels, while retail parcel acreage increases.
Traffic Concerns: The board addressed traffic concerns and hopes to see collaboration with NCDOT moving forward.
The Aberdeen Town Board approved revisions to a Habitat for Humanity of the Sandhills development plan at a meeting on Monday, Oct. 26. The revisions include reducing the proposed housing types to single-family homes while increasing the amount of designated open space.
The Revisions
The revised plan for Sandhills Station covers roughly 103 acres between U.S. 15-501, Pee Dee Road, and Hight Road on the outskirts of Aberdeen. Habitat reportedly requested the changes because of market conditions and the loss of development partners.
The original 2024 plan called for 340 homes, which included single-family houses, townhomes, and multifamily housing. Now, the revised proposal allows up to 280 detached single-family homes and removes both the townhomes and multifamily units.
According to details submitted to the board by Habitat for Humanity, the plan also increases the acreage designated for retail and institutional uses from 11.4 acres to 13.9 acres while keeping the proposed commercial floor area at 95,000 square feet. Open space would increase from about 23.2 acres to 26.5 acres, with additional recreation areas.
Other changes include removing a planned public road connecting U.S. 15-501 to the residential area, moving the proposed well site, and eliminating rear alleys in favor of front-facing driveways.
“These proposed changes result in less homes, less retail/office/institutional square footage (which means less traffic), and more open space,” explain the plans in the official meeting packet. “Finally, we believe these proposed changes meet current and future market conditions and will create the mixed-use, mixed-income, live, work, shop, and play community that Habitat has always envisioned for this property.”
Talking Traffic
Traffic access along U.S. 15-501 has been a major concern during public hearings and previous meetings. Board members have questioned how the commercial portion of the development would connect to the highway as nearby residential projects add more homes to the area.
The revised plan removes a previously proposed road that would connect the neighborhood directly to U.S. 15-501. Instead, an internal north-south road would connect Hight Road with Pee Dee Road.
Nathan Romberg, a traffic engineer with Kimley-Horn Associates who has worked on the project for several years, said discussions with the North Carolina Department of Transportation about highway access are ongoing.
Romberg added that the current concept calls for one primary access point serving the northern commercial parcel and another serving the southern parcel. A secondary access point would connect the southern parcel to Hight Road.
Mayor Farrell was apprehensive about the cumulative traffic from Sandhills Station and other planned developments along the two-lane highway, and he questioned how many driveways the road could accommodate as the area grows.
Moving forward, board members discussed limiting the commercial parcels to three access points and requiring connections between the commercial properties to reduce the need for separate highway entrances.
As such, the board added a condition limiting the commercial parcels along U.S. 15-501 to the three access points shown on the applicant’s connectivity map. The condition specifies one primary entrance for each commercial parcel and a secondary entrance to the southern parcel from Hight Road.
Board Approves Revisions
After closing the public hearing, the board adopted the amended consistency and reasonableness statement, then approved the revised plan development request with the additional conditions.
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Feature photo via Town of Aberdeen / Habitat for Humanity of the Sandhills.
Abegail Murphy | Assistant Editor
Written by Sandhills Sentinel assistant editor Abegail Murphy. Abegail has been writing for Sandhills Sentinel since 2021.
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