Milton review committee asks for more time on Scarlet Oaks

Milton’s Special Review Committee is prepared to ask town council for additional time in reviewing a proposed annexation of 50 acres on Harbeson Road for a 163-unit development to be known as Scarlet Oaks.

Committee members agreed that they do not have enough information to make a recommendation at this time and expressed irritation at the developer for not providing details or sending a representative to the committee’s Feb. 8 meeting. The property is owned by The Company Store LLC, based in Charlotte, N.C.

At that meeting, Town Manager Kristy Rogers presented a cost/benefit analysis of the annexation. According to Rogers’ report, which is still in draft form, the town stands to make $778,000 in construction revenue fees, which include building permit fees, sewer permit fees and water tapping fees. Initial real estate transfer tax revenue is estimated at $846,000. However, that revenue will end up being reinvested into the town in some form. The town stands to make an estimated $164,000 in annual revenues from property taxes and water fees. 

On the flip side, the town would end up sinking $126,000 in costs to service the development, including one new police officer and one new public works employee along with vehicles for each, over a 10-year period. 

Rogers said she based the transfer tax revenue on a price point of $300,000 for an attached unit and $400,000 for a detached unit. Plans for Scarlet Oaks call for 75 single-family detached houses on the outer perimeter and 88 attached townhouses toward the parcel’s center. The town homes would be around 2,000 square feet each and the single-family homes 3,000 square feet.

For the committee, the main issue was not Rogers’ analysis, but unanswered questions that could affect the committee’s recommendation for annexation. Chairman John Collier pointed out that the development at this time has very little connection to the town, either through walking or biking trails. Other missing details include the size of the homes, street widths, construction phasing, and whether there will be affordable housing.

Collier said while the parcel is included as a growth area in the town’s comprehensive development plan, it should at least appear as if it is part of Milton. Committee member Richard Trask also singled out the development’s lack of connectivity to the rest of town, although he added that given the parcel’s location, across from Mariner Middle School and Heritage Creek, the opportunities to actually connect it to the rest of Milton are limited.

Collier said he was also troubled by the fact that the development has not been submitted for review by the state’s Preliminary Land Use Service, in which state agencies review proposed developments and offer feedback. Collier said a lot of the committee’s questions could be answered by a PLUS review. Without one, he said, “I feel like I’m flying blind.”

Speaking to the lack of details, Collier said, “If we’re deciding to recommend against this annexation, one of the things that can help us make our decision is the lack of providing us with this information.”

Instead of recommending against the annexation, the committee decided to ask for more information from the developer and get additional review time from town council. Under the town’s annexation procedure, the committee typically has 60 days to review an application and make a report to council.