Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

In a unanimous vote, Washington City Council has approved a rezoning request by the Fred Smith Company out of Clayton, for a 386-unit residential development.

The 91.32-acre tract is located between Highland Drive and Market Street south of the Kingswood subdivision. The plan calls for 152 single-family home lots, 162 townhomes, 72 duplexes, and an athletic and fitness center, to be built over approximately four to five phases. Lot sizes will be approximately 6,000 square feet.

“Having invested in Beaufort Count over the last few years while working with Chris Respess of United Country-Respess Realty I have grown to love the area,” said Fred Smith. “During that time I’ve seen the need and the opportunity to provide quality workforce housing here in Washington, similar to some of the successful projects we have done in Wake and Johnston Counties. We are really big on improving the quality of life for middle America.”

During the public comment period, Respess, who represents the developer, reiterated the need for more housing in Washington to accommodate the anticipated future growth. “As the airport continues to expand and we continue to grow we don’t have any place to put people,” said Respess. “We already have folks who live in Greenville and work here in Washington and commute daily. Myself and other realtors are having to turn folks away because of the lack of housing to meet their needs.”

Abbott Tunstall, with The Rich Company, added, “We are still feeling the impacts of COVID. Pre-COVID there were 275 homes on the market in Beaufort County. That dropped to 12 during COVID and has slowly climbed back to around 105 and that is it. We are now competing with New Bern, Wilmington, and Elizabeth City. If people come to our area and they can’t find what they are looking for, and that is happening, they are gone and we have lost that tax dollar. We are in need of affordable workforce housing here in Washington. That means housing for the average person who goes to work every day, such as our teachers and hospital workers.”

Despite the support, several residents expressed their concerns over the development. It ranged from trying to “cram” too much into the available space to questions of drainage and adequate water supplies, to concerns over light and noise pollution, traffic congestion, and the environmental impact it will have on existing deer populations in the area. “I wasn’t surprised at all by the many concerns that were expressed here tonight,” said Brian O’Kane, owner of O’Kane and Associates, a Washington-based civil engineering firm that is working with the Fred Smith Smith Company. “I’m a homeowner, as well, and would have those same concerns. But a lot of these issues such as noise and light pollution are already being addressed in existing city codes. Things you wouldn’t know unless you were part of the process.”

The passing of the rezoning request is just the first in a long lengthy process before the first blade of dirt can be turned. “The next step will be to start a preliminary plat map which will have to be approved by the planning board and city council,” said O’Kane. “Once that gets approved there will be a litany of technical permits that will need to be obtained, including those from the Department of Transportation and the state of North Carolina,” said O’Kane. “Traditionally with a neighborhood of this size, it will take about six to nine months to get the design and permitting completed. Based on that scenario, assuming everything runs smoothly, we would be looking at a groundbreaking sometime next spring.”