The Albemarle City Council on Monday night approved a major cluster subdivision located northwest of the intersection of Northeast Connector and Badin Road.

The subdivision, which is called Badin Ridge and will be on the east and west side of the Northeast Connector, will include 141 single-family lots under the city’s current zoning jurisdiction of R-10. The applicant, Kyle diPretoro of dP Development, approached council in July to rezone a tract of the property to R-8, but council denied his request.

While lot sizes for R-10 are 10,000 square feet for single family residential, in cluster subdivisions, they can be reduced by 50 percent. The developer for Badin Ridge has proposed that have minimum lot size will be 5,125 square feet.

Four primary access points have been proposed off the Northeast Connector into the development, with two on each side, according to information provided to council by planning officials. On the eastern side of the development, stub-out connections are proposed to the unopened Richard Street right of way as well as the unopened Elmer Street right of way. On the western side, three stub-out connections are proposed at the existing East Cannon Avenue, the unopened Boone Avenue right of way and the unopened Montgomery Avenue right of way.

There will be about 26 acres of open space in the development, of which almost 7 acres will be improved upon to include amenities such as outdoor seating, a dog park, gardens, fire pits and corn hole games.

All roads that will be constructed will be 25 feet wide from the back of curb to back of curb and sidewalks will be five feet in width on both sides of the road. Setbacks will 30 feet in the front, 5 feet on the sides, 15 feet on the side adjacent to a street and 30 feet in the rear.

The developer has proposed 268 off-street parking spots, which comes out to two spaces per unit, according to a site map attached to the subdivision application.

Since the proposed subdivision was to exceed 500 cars passing through per day, a traffic impact analysis was required. According to information from planning staff, NCDOT said that left turn lanes and potentially right turn lanes may be required at both entrances off the Northeast Connector, though this would have to be confirmed by the NCDOT district office.

The city’s planning and zoning board heard the case on Oct. 7 and unanimously recommended that council approve the development with a few small conditions that the developer has since addressed.

Though the property is not located on any regulated floodplain, it is located by the Long Creek watershed and there is a large amount of wetland, according to planning staff.

Councilman Bill Aldridge mentioned that as the city continues to grow, he wanted to make sure fire and police, which have been impacted during the pandemic, could still adequately provide key services to citizens in new developments like Badin Ridge.

After no one spoke during the public hearing, Mayor Pro-Tem Martha Sue Hall made a motion to approve the cluster subdivision provided that the developer met all conditions required by the planning board and recommendations from NCDOT. The council unanimously approved the motion.

In other news, the council tabled a decision to annex about 135 acres along U.S. Highway 52, near the intersection with N.C. Highway 138 and Aquadale Road, until the planning department and all other relevant agencies have reviewed the proposed annexation thoroughly.

After council heard from several citizens regarding the annexation, it voted to keep the public hearing open until the second meeting on Nov. 15.

The council was also formally introduced to new Assistant Finance Director Kimber Hurlocker, who began working for the city late last month.

The next scheduled meeting is set for Nov. 1 at 6:30 p.m.