At their regular meeting held on May 1, the Hoke County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously for the rezone designation of 93.2 acres of an unaddressed parcel located on Philippi Church Road and an addressed parcel at 5621 Philippi Church Rd. 

The Council held a brief public hearing to collect feedback from residents before making the decision to switch the zoning designation from Residential Agricultural-20 (RA-20) to 

 Residential-8 (R-8). 

According to County documents, the requested rezone was submitted by Sidney L. Palen and John O. Hill III with the goal to “encourage high quality and aesthetically pleasing growth while promoting sound land management.” 

According to an excerpt from the Hoke County Subdivision Ordinance, the high density designation is intended to add flexibility for the County and developers to allow for higher density residential development where both sewer and water infrastructure is available. 

After fielding questions and comments from residents, the council decided to move forward with the choice to rezone. While some voiced concerns about infrastructure, housing costs and past precedence to show the possibility of a move like this having success in Hoke County, no one stood in opposition to the move. 

You can find the county agenda here, the fact sheet here and the video of the meeting here.