Sep. 21—HIGH POINT — The City Council has delayed a decision on proposed regulatory changes that would open more than 1,000 acres in north High Point to new development.
Several amendments to the city's airport overlay district recommended by staff will be the subject of a work session Nov. 7.
"I've heard from a number of council folks and others that they would like to have some more time to consider this," Mayor Jay Wagner said Monday after public hearings on proposed zoning and policy changes that would allow new residential development in about 1,400 acres where it's been prohibited because of noise from overhead flights to and from Piedmont Triad International Airport.
City planners recommended the revisions based on an updated PTIA study of noise patterns around the airport.
Bill Cooke, a Greensboro attorney who serves as general counsel to the PTI Airport Authority, cautioned the council about allowing residential development too close to the airport.
"We do want to see sensible development within the approaches to our runways," Cooke said. "And what you have in the land use plan is commercial, industrial — that, we believe, would be more sensible development than putting housing there."
He said the majority of arrivals and departures to and from the FedEx cargo hub at the airport fly over High Point.
"This is the low tide in the noise environment around the airport. The airport is perfectly situated for a cargo operation," Cooke said. "The very factors that brought FedEx here — if FedEx isn't the one to expand — will bring in another cargo operation."
The council heard a different point of view from Amanda Williams, vice president with BSC Holdings of High Point, which develops multifamily housing. She said she believes the amendments don't go far enough in opening areas to residential growth.
"What we've been working with for years and years has restricted your ability to get more development," Williams told the council. "You can't get retail up here because retail wants rooftops."
Ward 6 Councilman Michael Holmes said the impact of aircraft noise is "negligible" for him and his north High Point neighborhood and that it hasn't affected the area's surging housing market.
"You can take it from someone who's lived there for 14 years in a flight path — it's not something I considered when I moved there," he said. "It's not something I'm bothered by."
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