Around 30 residents attending Southern Pines’ Planning Board meeting Nov. 17 opposed a lodging development for the club. The proposal entails 10 cottages with up to 56 guest rooms. The project, presented by local land Planner Bob Koontz of Koontz Jones Design, would entail homes available to book, similar to a hotel room, for golf groups coming to town. Residents say they are concerned about traffic flow and having temporary lodging in their neighborhood.
Around 30 residents attending Southern Pines’ Planning Board meeting Nov. 17 opposed a lodging development for the Southern Pines (N.C.) Golf Club, The Pilot reported.
Planning Board Chair Gary Carroll asked a mostly full meeting room how many people were against the plan; most raised their hands.
The proposal entails 10 cottages with up to 56 guest rooms, The Pilot reported. The project, presented by local land Planner Bob Koontz of Koontz Jones Design, would entail homes available to book, similar to a hotel room, for golf groups coming to town.
The current design features four or eight bedrooms per cottage, but the number of visitors per room is unclear, The Pilot reported. Each cottage contains a common space but not a full kitchen for visitors. The exterior would appear as single-family residences to reflect the character of the neighborhood.
Koontz said the cottages were designed with the idea that one group would stay per building. Other amenities include a putting green and practice tee on-site.
There would be three access points to the lodges off of Country Club Circle, all of which would lead to a 155-spot parking lot, The Pilot reported. The design includes golf cart trails and parking to some of the cottages from the main lot.
The parcel for development once featured the Elks Club Lodge, which was demolished last year following the purchase of Southern Pines Golf Club by the Bell family and partner Haresh Tharani, who own the Mid Pines and Pine Needles golf resorts, The Pilot reported.
Principal Planner Pam Graham said the development aligns with the current long-range land use plan, including its betterment of the golf area because of increased lodging, The Pilot reported. One issue she raised involved the need to do a traffic design analysis to see if existing infrastructure can support more traffic.
Engineer Travis Fluitt addressed the concern of traffic following comments by residents about the Morganton Road and Country Club Drive intersection, The Pilot reported. When he was first presented the plan, with 44 bedrooms overall, the number of estimated daily trips fell below the 200 daily-trip threshold for a traffic impact analysis.
However, with the updated number of rooms at 56, the development may be over the threshold at 230 daily trips, requiring further analysis, The Pilot reported. Fluitt said he will meet with the town engineer to discuss the safety of the intersection.
Resident Kim Collins Cotty passed out a hand-drawn map at the meeting to detail the issue at the Morganton Road intersection, especially given traffic to-and-from Fort Bragg, The Pilot reported. She estimated thousands of Fort Bragg employees driving through the area each day.
Other concerns raised by residents involved having temporary lodging in their neighborhood, The Pilot reported. Bob Gallagher called the cottages a “roadside motel” and “out of character.” He noted that none of the houses immediate to the proposed development are identical, and these cottages, with a common design, would stand out.
Another resident, Scott Weaver, detailed how the development does not align with the town’s long-range land use plan, including the well-being of the community, The Pilot reported. His concern of lodgers partying — “cutting up” and “letting their hair down” — was echoed by other speakers.
Some details of the plan remained unclear, including who would be able to rent the lodges, if a night manager would be hired, and who would maintain the structures.
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