Huntersville’s Planning Board on Sept. 23 recommended approval of R-25-09, a conditional-district rezoning amendment requested by Greenway Waste Solutions (NorthMeck) to reconfigure and expand an existing construction-and-demolition (C&D) landfill operation near 15300 Holbrooks Road. The proposal would relocate an on-site tributary, fill portions of the existing landfill cells and construct a lined cell area that the applicant says will improve leachate capture and environmental controls. The board’s recommendation was conditioned on the town board’s later approval of a special use permit addressing environmental remediation, monitoring and access conditions.

Why this matters: the landfill has operated since the 1990s and the proposed amendment would change internal cell configuration and routing of a tributary. The applicant has received state and Army Corps permits for impacts to wetlands/streams (401/404 and related approvals) but staff and the board emphasized that town-level special-use permitting must still examine contamination, groundwater monitoring, stream mitigation, and traffic/road maintenance approaches for Holbrooks Road.

Key points discussed: staff said the applicant adjusted the rezoning boundary to preserve an 80-foot residential buffer along Holbrooks Road where possible and added a note to the plan committing to build a multiuse path and to reserve right-of-way for a future north–south connector identified in the Greenway Plan. Engineers said the proposal would reroute an unnamed tributary around the landfill and that new lined cells (the proposed Cell 3) would be installed to capture leachate and provide engineered containment; the applicant said the new engineered cell would be lined (synthetic liner) and include monitoring and treatment. The applicant reported existing groundwater monitoring wells, twice-yearly sampling and active remediation work in the event of detections; they said a prior trace vinyl-chloride detection in 2019 had been addressed with remediation investments and that the current plan includes further in-place groundwater treatment options if needed.

Transportation and community impacts: the board discussed the historical use of Holbrooks Road to access the site and the town’s prior condition (dating to the 2016 rezoning) that the landfill seek alternative access and limit Holbrooks access by Feb. 2034. Staff and applicant said the planned new Commerce Station Drive connection to the south (recently approved industrial/warehouse development) creates an opportunity for the landfill to redirect truck traffic off Holbrooks; the applicant committed to limit Holbrooks access to emergency use and to coordinate road maintenance/repairs with NCDOT and town staff. The applicant showed community investments and a long-running partnership with the Pottstown/Holbrooks neighborhood (scholarships, roadside maintenance support and other contributions) and said they would build a multiuse Greenway path and propose sidewalk connections for residents as part of a future coordinated master plan.

Board action and next steps: the planning board recommended approval of the conditional rezoning amendment but conditioned that the town board must approve the required special use permit; the SUP hearing was scheduled separately. Staff asked for final plan clarifications — specific uses on parcels, detailed SWIM-buffer mitigation plans and confirmation of contamination cleanup documents and long-term groundwater monitoring commitments — to be provided during the SUP process. The board unanimously recommended the rezoning amendment forward to the town board with those conditions.

The applicant said it will continue work with DEQ, the Army Corps and town engineering staff on mitigation and monitoring and will coordinate with adjacent landowners and developers to secure a new truck access route that is intended to remove regular truck traffic from Holbrooks Road.