This new district we’ve proposed will allow our town to act strategically about town building when considering land use regulations and housing options. The latest Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) creates high land development costs, and restrictive requirements that won’t produce quality open spaces nor preserve our rural vistas. It also has a very high minimum lot size for all housing types. Its stringent rules do not sufficiently provide for clustering or for creating meaningfully large open spaces; it lacks some of the tools necessary for quality sustainable land planning, to fulfill key goals of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan.

If you carefully review the data around what's currently happening to our aging adult community members, you’ll see that our focus on providing new and varied housing options will benefit our town in many ways as it evolves.

To see many who were born and raised here, and have lived here their entire lives, and had generations of their families before them live here, now have to leave, or not be able to return from school to buy and build equity here, seems wrong and un-American to us. The Town’s current approach to regulating land development excludes people, but it doesn’t have to be that way—if we can create the Open Space Mixed-Use Villages (OSMV) Zone, that allows the Town to at least consider a better plan.

 Many are asking these questions….We have compiled these questions and answers for your input to help us shape and share a vision as a community.

Q : What if Summerfield incorporated small restaurants, neighborhood coffee shops and boutique shops?  What would this look like?  

A: There are many of us in Summerfield who love the idea of new amenities, walkability, an outdoor lifestyle, and housing options designed for present and future needs. Many of the citizens of the town are excited about potential restaurant options, and the prospect of improving the entrance corridor of 220. We are excited about small retail boutique shops, a signature farm-to-table restaurant supported by local gardens and produce, and small coffee shops. We are giving Summerfield the opportunity to pursue its potential as the finest small community in North Carolina.

Q: What happens to our streets in Summerfield with Villages of Summerfield's concept?  

A: Villages of Summerfield Farms has considered transportation as an extremely important part of our planning. Our focus has been on two-lane roads, traffic-calming practices and round abouts vs big intersections and road-widening. Planning is an important part of the process. Transportation involves connections going north/south and east/west. If Villages of Summerfield Farms is approved, we are better able to apply transportation best practices that enable us to make Summerfield safer with slower roads, roundabouts, and an east / west connection through Summerfield Farms.

Q: What does growth look like for Summerfield?

A: Nothing remains the same forever.  Our concept preserves the essence of our town through thoughtful planning for future generations.   Our town needs a variety of housing to create a community where our teachers, firefighters and children can live, as well as, our elders who want to downsize.  We feel it is important that community is welcoming to all of our neighbors.   We believe thoughtful, controlled, smart growth, like we are proposing, is what best serves the town going forward. It can and will allow for the preservation of rural character and small town look and feel.  At Villages of Summerfield Farms, we want to all work together to make Summerfield a charming place for generations to come.   

Q: Would Summerfield lose its rural vistas and small town look and feel? 

A: Villages of Summerfield Farms starts with the green parts first. Our goal is to preserve rural vistas, beautiful trees, creek corridors, long open space, preservation, and trail systems. We want to encourage the owners of our homes in the Villages of Summerfield Farms to spend time walking on sidewalks, hiking on trails, biking on bike paths, and using golf carts.

Q: Why do you need this OSM-V Text Amendment District to accomplish the plans for the Villages of Summerfield Farms? Why can’t you use the Zoning Districts we already have?

A: We can’t realize the Villages of Summerfield Farms with the current OSR and OSM districts in the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). They don’t allow the necessary setbacks, lot sizes, clustering, open space, and housing types. To make the vision come true, we also need small commercial uses within walking distance to cut down on trips made in vehicles. These cluster villages encourage a healthy lifestyle with sidewalks and tree lined streets, so neighbors are encouraged to interact and have places to go that are easily accessible by foot, bike, or golf cart. But under the existing ordinance, for example, if you are building 10 houses in one area, one of those houses could be a quadplex, yet because of the bedroom limitations in the ordinance, the other 9 houses would all have to be single-family. On top of that, there is no district in the existing ordinance that allows garden-style multi-family apartment housing.

Q:What is a Text Amendment? How does it work?

A: A Text Amendment is a request for a change to the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). Villages of Summerfield Farms is seeking approval of a Text Amendment which creates a new zoning district in the Town of Summerfield Ordinance. Once this district exists, Villages of Summerfield Farms would have an opportunity to then apply for a Rezoning (applying the new zone to specific areas on the map) and Development Agreement between the Town of Summerfield and Villages of Summerfield Farms.

Q: If the Open Space Mixed Use Village (OSM-V) Text Amendment is passed, does that mean the whole development project is approved?

A: No. Approval of this Text Amendment creates an OSM-V district in the Town of Summerfield Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). Mr. Couch would have to apply to use this district to develop Villages of Summerfield Farms. The Town Council would then vote whether to approve that application or not. As part of the Rezoning application, in addition to a Rezoning approval, a Development Agreement would be created, and this would also need to be approved by the Planning Board and Town Council after multiple public hearings.

Q: What are the next steps for Villages of Summerfield Farms?

A: Town Council will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, 2/21/23 at 6:30 pm at the Summerfield Baptist Church. If the Text Amendment is approved, it will be incorporated into the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) for use by any interested developer that can meet the acreage criteria.

From there, the Villages of Summerfield Farms would apply for a Rezoning and enter negotiations with the Town of Summerfield for a Development Agreement. The town would schedule Public Hearings at both Planning Board and Town Council for citizen input on details of the rezoning and the agreement.

The Development Agreement would be a binding contract established between the Town of Summerfield and Villages of Summerfield Farms. This document contains all of the details about what Villages of Summerfield Farms can or can't do and all the regulations that will control the details of the development. This Development Agreement is a quality control tool that will benefit all parties.

If approved, the Development Agreement would bind the development to the details agreed upon. These include: Timing and Phasing to ensure development is accomplished gently over a long period of time; Density; Permitted Land Uses; Neighborhood Layout; Architectural Details; Lot Sizes and Configurations; Road & Trail Routes; Landscaping; Lighting and Signage; and Locations & Protections for Open Space.

Q: What if Summerfield incorporated small restaurants, neighborhood coffee shops, and boutique shops? What would this look like?

A: There are many of us in Summerfield who love the idea of new amenities, walkability, an outdoor lifestyle, and housing options designed for present and future needs. Many of the citizens of the town are excited about potential restaurant options, and the prospect of improving the entrance corridor of 220. We are excited about small retail boutique shops, a signature farm-to-table restaurant supported by local gardens and produce, and small coffee shops. We are giving Summerfield the opportunity to pursue its potential as the finest small community in North Carolina.

Q: What happens to our streets in Summerfield with Villages of Summerfield Farms' concept?

A: Villages of Summerfield Farms has considered transportation as an extremely important part of our planning. Our focus has been on two-lane roads, traffic-calming practices and round abouts vs big intersections and road-widening. Planning is an important part of the process. Transportation involves connections going north/south and east/west. If Villages of Summerfield Farms is approved, we are better able to apply transportation best practices that enable us to make Summerfield safer with slower roads, roundabouts, and an east/west connection through Summerfield Farms.

Q: What does growth look like for Summerfield?

A: Nothing remains the same forever. Our concept preserves the essence of our town through thoughtful planning for future generations. Our town needs a variety of housing to create a community where our teachers, firefighters and children can live, as well as our elders who want to downsize. We feel it is important that the community is welcoming to all of our neighbors. We believe thoughtful, controlled, smart growth, like we are proposing, is what best serves the town going forward. It can and will allow for the preservation of rural character and small town look and feel. At Villages of Summerfield Farms, we want to all work together to make Summerfield a charming place for generations to come.

Q: Would Summerfield lose its rural vistas and small town look and feel?

A: Villages of Summerfield Farms starts with the green parts first. Our goal is to preserve rural vistas, beautiful trees, creek corridors, long open space, preservation, and trail systems. We want to encourage the owners of the homes in the Villages of Summerfield Farms to spend time walking on sidewalks, hiking on trails, biking on bike paths, and using golf carts.

Q: What is wrong with septic tanks? Why are you asking for city water and sewer extension?

A: It is not the tank. It is the outflow that comes from the drainage field. There is a clear environmental reason to not have septic fields. Even at one unit an acre, these become a problem; pollutants could enter your well and contaminate your drinking water or the drinking water of your neighbor, among other issues. The proliferation of septic tanks is causing a regional crisis for the entire Jordan Lake watershed.

For appropriate development to happen, we will need water and sewer to deploy a modern-day best management practice and be more responsible and sustainable for the future of our environment. It also helps solve the town’s current dilemma of “where will we get water for fire suppression” by bringing a loop through the town so the town’s current funding can be leveraged to provide more widespread fire suppression coverage.

Q:Who will pay for the city and water sewer extension? Won’t our taxes go way up?

A: The Villages of Summerfield Farms residents would have municipal water and sewer. The cost of paying for water and sewer being brought to the Villages of Summerfield Farms would be paid by the residents in the Villages of Summerfield Farms. Anyone living outside of the Villages of Summerfield Farms would be allowed to pay to connect to the water and sewer, but not required to do so. Since the cost of the water and sewer is paid only by the residents of Villages of Summerfield Farms, water and sewer for this project would not increase taxes.

Q: Where are the apartment sites?

A: We revised our development plan.

We have changed the language in our most recent Text Amendment submittal on 5/10/2022 to ensure that “Apartments may not be built immediately adjacent to existing single family detached home subdivisions. Duplex, Triplex, and Quadplex style housing is not included in the definition of ‘Apartments’ for purposes of this restriction.” See page 6 (under subsection 9 (d)) for relevant language of the Text Amendment, which can be seen by clicking here

We were asked specifically to reduce/eliminate the garden-style apartment sites immediately abutting existing large single-family-home subdivisions. The Johnson tract is adjacent to Armfield West, and some of the Beeson tract is close to Henson Farms, so those two sites were taken out of play for garden-style multi-family apartments in this revision.

There will now only be 2 locations for garden-style multi-family apartments. One location is at Saunders Village (previously called “Henson Village”) backing up to the I-73 corridor, and one location is on the west side of the trailer park off Summerfield Rd near 220.

Q: Why apartments? Why not stick to single-family, townhomes, or small multiplexes?

A: Creating two locations and 600 apartments is important in providing a variety of housing types for our town for equity reasons. In addition, to have all the amenities and sustainable choices with clustering, municipal water and sewer, rural vistas and long views, open space, trails and connectivity, sidewalks and tree lined streets, the development has to have economies of scale. All of the expenses for the amenities are part of overall cost to the landowners. Garden-style multi-family apartments will be a part of the project and help provide this level of high-quality. We believe choice is important as well as having age and income diversity in our town to have a complete community, including work force housing. Having garden-style multi-family apartments, along with the whole range of other housing options in Summerfield, also makes our town more of a true community that welcomes people at different stages of life and with freedom to choose the living arrangements that they find best. It is important to offer housing options that are inclusive and welcoming for all who want to be a part of our community.

Q:Why do you refer to the apartments as garden-style multi-family apartments?

A: Our non-traditional apartments in the Villages of Summerfield Farms are called garden-style multi-family apartments. This is our solution for housing needs above a quadplex (4 unit structure). Dover Kohl & Partners took a commonplace apartment building type and reworked it, to make it better. Our garden-style multi-family apartments are designed to be arranged with their front porches along the sidewalks on the tree lined streets, just like the houses and other buildings in the neighborhood. They will have elevated floors on the ground floor, which greatly improves privacy and the look of the neighborhood. We visualize the garden-style apartments to have on street parking plus smaller parking lots behind the buildings. These units have been designed to have architectural features such as extra landscaping, porches, shutters and a more architecturally appealing style than traditional apartments.

Q:How can we know that the development will only have 600 Garden-Style Multi-Family apartments, as David has stated publicly?

A: The Text Amendment is a zoning district in the actual current Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). It is necessary to provide a zoning district for Villages of Summerfield Farms to come forth with a Rezoning and Development Agreement. David is committing prior to the Rezoning and Development Agreement and has agreed in writing to limit the number to 600 garden-style multi-family apartments in two specific locations. One of the locations is at Saunders Village near I -73, and the other is near 220 behind the current trailer park on Summerfield Road. David has committed to building these one at a time. He also has agreed to not build apartments near single family residential neighborhoods. These 600 apartments would be specified in the Development Agreement, which is a binding legal document between Villages of Summerfield Farms and the Town of Summerfield.

Q:What will be on the Beeson and Johnson tracts?

A: There are no firm plans yet. The Villages of Summerfield Farms will not do additional design work for these areas until the Text Amendment has been approved and we can then move forward with plans for Rezoning and a Development Agreement. We look forward to working with our neighbors on those plans.

Q: Why can’t you just develop more of the same large homes on large lots?

A: Three Primary Reasons:

1. Adding too much more of the same type of homes will not help the value of your current, older homes. The housing market demands a greater variety in housing options.

2. Adding more septic tanks associated with each large new home is not sustainable due to septic field drainage problems affecting drinking water and potentially contaminating the water source.

3. The Town’s adopted Comprehensive Plan recognized all these issues, and calls for more variety that includes smaller lots and green space with clustering.

Q: How do we know that the developer won’t package this project up and sell it off in 24-36 months?

A: That is certainly not Mr. Couch's intention. However, if sold, any new owner of the property would have to adhere to all aspects of the approved Rezoning and the Development Agreement. For someone to do something different from the Development Agreement, they would have to go through the process all over again.

Q: Won’t development be a huge burden on our schools?

A: The Villages of Summerfield Farms plans to set aside land for two school sites. We will be working with Guilford County Schools over the years to involve them at every step. Charter schools and private schools are also good options. Space for and distribution of seats available in our public schools is overseen by the Guilford County Board of Education. Many of our residents will be single people and married couples without children, given the variety of housing we are offering, which will reduce the impact on schools.

Q: What plans do you have in place to curtail and manage traffic?

A: There will be traffic impacts whether we develop the Villages as intended or someone else develops the land piecemeal as large-lot house sites on cul-de-sacs. The difference is the overall thought that can be given to streets and reduction of traffic congestion with a larger, long-term project with connected streets arranged in a network. The piecemeal approach would result in trips being bunched together on the same roads and limited intersections at peak hours. With a big-picture overall design, we can

1. Incorporate a network of streets to distribute the traffic along a variety of routes, designed to be attractive addresses, not just thoroughfares;

2. Include new east-west routes that are much needed today, reducing the pressure on existing streets;

3. Use safer, compact modern roundabouts that keep traffic moving and eliminate the need for road-widening for turn lanes;

4. Mix land uses (adding, for example, things like restaurants, coffee shops, small stores, and some employers), to shorten and capture many trips internally, instead of pushing those trips onto the regional road network;

5. Carefully locate the somewhat more intensive land uses closest to the interstate interchange and regional roads, to minimize their impact; and

6. Design the tree-lined streets and trails to make walking and biking real alternatives to driving throughout, for the short local trips.

NCDOT is responsible for our existing main thoroughfares in Summerfield. We will work hand in hand with the DOT to discourage widening of their corridors in exchange for a more grid-like pattern of streets to take care of vehicular traffic.