BY MILES LAYTON

When the Chowan County Commission approved a rezoning request for land along Chambers Ferry Road deep in the county, a discussion of land-use policy illustrated the challenges facing policymakers in rural communities.  

Flashback to Monday’s meeting — the commission approved rezoning 9.74 acres – 921 and 927 Chambers Ferry Road – from A1 to R-15. Instead of agriculture, there will be multiple lots that start at 15,000 square feet, roughly a third of an acre, for a possible subdivision. 

Note the word “possible” – all the commissioners did was give a green light to rezoning. CSH Builders property developer Chris Hehl still needs to jump through a bunch of hoops to receive the county’s blessing before any shiny shovels come out at any future groundbreaking for this as-yet-unnamed subdivision that I’ll call Layton Lane or maybe Green Acres.   

“As far as the long-term plan, that is kind of another phase for us. We look at a lot of different projects,” Hehl said prior to the commission’s vote on the matter. “We’re always trying to find a way that we can help the community. And we’re always looking at property. Every minute I spend on it is time. Time is money. So I try and develop my details at the same rate that we get approved. So I’ll have more and more detail as we move forward. If you approve this, when we come back for subdivision, we’ll have, of course, much more.” 

When making the decision, commissioners grappled with whether to maintain the rural nature of that area or open it up to the development of smaller-sized affordable homes.  

Commission President Bob Kirby made a case for affordability as a desired goal that is included in the county’s land-use planning.  

“We need to come up with ways to make home ownership, home construction, affordable to the extent that we can get teachers to come live here, for our fire department personnel or our sheriff personnel, or our town employees, to be able to have some place that is affordable to live,” he said. “I think we all know that in this town especially, it’s being overrun with people from another part of the country who have a lot of money in their pockets and are driving up the cost of the housing that’s available. That’s true. So that’s the downside of that.”

Kirby continued, “I’ll tell you, the one commonality that I hear from people, from the people who work at the schools is there’s nowhere for people to live. They’re trying to attract teachers to come here and work. And there’s nowhere for them to live once they get here. And that’s a concern that I have.”

Commissioner Vice Chairman Larry McLaughlin spoke of how the houses would be a tight fit on such small acreage.  

“I’m not for it. I think it gets ridiculously too small,” said McLauglin, who voted against rezoning. “I understand the economics of costs and all that. However, when you start figuring that, you start putting cars in the driveway and everything else, things shrink pretty well. And will these houses have an outbuilding? Will this development have a homeowner’s association to control all these little things? I think it’s a little tight. That’s my thinking.”

What’s McLaughlin talking about? Let’s start with the lot size – there’s around 43,000 square feet within an acre with a proposed minimum lot size at around 15,000 square feet, which is a little more than a ⅓ of an acre. That means the houses are not to be super large or even medium-sized, but homes that are probably around 1,200 square feet. 

When adding a driveway/garage, maybe perhaps a storage shed that could hold tools and kayaks, the structure’s footprint shrinks a bit smaller. Then there’s the septic tank issue – that may mean a bit more land is needed for each home.  

County Planner Brandon Shoaf said manufactured housing or mobile homes would not be permitted – instead, they would be stick-built homes.

Maybe “tiny houses” isn’t the best descriptive phrase because these homes will be bigger, but in some parts of the country, smaller-sized homes have become trendy for folks seeking a reduction and simplification of living spaces. Tiny homes have been promoted as offering lower-cost and sometimes eco-friendly features within the housing market.  

“You can see those landing up on empty lots here and there throughout the county. I know in one spot right now the two of them are there, and there’s people living in them,” Commissioner Ron Cummings said. “You also go around and you see beside a manufactured home, there’s, I guess you call a little house, tiny house. It looks like it’s a shed.”

Cummings continued, “And there’s one of these manufactured sheds that they had brought in and there’s people living in it. And here’s actually, I can go right across the street from my place, or a two quarters of a mile down the road – there’s another one there, and people are living in these. All of a sudden there’s extra cars there in the parking lot and there are driveways. So this is a legal way of getting good housing available to the public. Instead, people are backdooring it. And that’s what I see. And so I’m all for this (rezoning so the county can have a better handle on this type of development).” 

Roughly between nine and 11 homes, maybe more, maybe less – much too soon to say – could be built within Layton Lane.  

Let’s talk about the developer – CSH Builders – an Edenton-based company that has built quality affordable homes in Cape Colony, Windsor Woods, and several places on small lots. Commissioner Chris Evans said the company does good work, built his home, so he vouches for CSH’s quality. 

Hehl said the size of the home is a major way to affect pricing, what he can sell the homes for and what people can afford.  

“Everybody has their own idea of what affordable housing is,” he said. “I’m just trying to make it as affordable as I can. So having these lots this size allows me to keep lots at a certain price, which really drives the price that I have.”

Hehl said the houses will be nice, offering top craftsmanship.  

“They’re well-built houses,” he said. “You know, I live here, so I want people to feel like I do a nice job for them. So in that respect, I think the rezoning would be helpful to the surrounding area.”

All that said, a subdivision, if one is built, would bring change to this corner of Chowan County.  

Speaking as a citizen, not as Sheriff, Scooter Basnight talked about the issues that this neck of the woods may face if any housing development is built, particularly one with several small homes. Basnight deserves a loud voice on the matter – he lives in a home that would be next to Layton Lane. He’s concerned about lot size.   

“I do disagree with going down to such a small property and the people move into the country because they want room for their children to run. They want room for their children to go out and have a four-wheeler to play around with in the woods,” he said. “When you look at this property, the woods to the rear, that’s me and I’ll open it up to families to come in and let their children play in the woods. Because I grew up in town, I never had that luxury, but I believe when you drop down to such a small area, people will start getting on each other’s nerves.”

Basnight continued, “If you want to be in a small community like that, there’s plenty of little communities in our county, like Hehl said, they’ve gone in and they’ve helped out. Some of them expand out and all. 

“But when you’re coming into the country like this to drop down to what, 15,000 square feet, and you’re going to put a thousand square foot house on it, plus you gotta have yours, you gotta have room to drive your car into the yard. Somebody’s going to want to build a workshop. There’s gonna be no room left on this property for them, and they’re going to get on each other’s nerves, and they’re going to be calling the sheriff’s office, and the deputies will respond.”

Basnight spoke of the subdivision’s lot size, which is smaller than the lot sizes of homes nearby.     

“I know this neighborhood very well and I have no issues with it staying, whatever your rating is right now, but you’re talking what would be, I believe four lots, and you’re trying to put 11 homes on there,” he said. “Potentially 20 some homes when it’s all said and done on nine acres of land. That’s a lot of compression.”